Dead Ground
by ZaKai
Summary: The Gboys find themselves at an abandoned cabin, at least abandoned of anything living. What does Quatre know that he's not telling the others, and will they find out in time to save their sanity?[1x2 34][COMPLETE]
1. The cabin

**A/N:** Story edited 10-26-07

**Dead Ground**

**1**

**The Cabin**

As the power came on in the cabin, there was a shout of triumph from the basement, the sound of someone running up stairs, then the door to the basement crashing open, spewing forth one Duo Maxwell.

"Oh Yeah!" shouted Duo, smiling broadly. He shook his head and said triumphantly to Wufei, "Where would you be with out me?"

"At peace," the Chinese youth said simply. Duo answered that by sticking his tongue out. Wufei's face contorted into a slight look of disgust before saying, "Idiot."

"Hey, a little gratitude would be nice!" Duo said, waving his hand to where he'd just come out of the basement.

"Here's your gratitude," said Wufei irritably, and shoving a broom at the braided boy.

Taking the broom from Wufei, he held it at arms length and asked the broom in a jovial tone if it would like to dance, then proceeded to spin around the living room of the cabin with the broom. Wufei shook his head and tried to remember how he'd gotten stuck here in the first place.

They'd been on the run after learning that OZ had found many of their previous hide-outs and safe-houses. They'd also learned there were OZ spies mingled in with their allies, and leaks in their information network. After spending five days on the run, Heero told the other four pilots that he thought he found, according to the data he had drudged up from his laptop, a good place to lay low. A place where, according to his findings, OZ's forces never went. That was this cabin, or more specifically this forest. The cabin was a surprise; even Heero hadn't known of it.

The old truck they'd stolen broke down at what seemed to be the edge of the property of the cabin. The cabin was located in the center of a circle of rocky, hard-packed dirt. No plants of any sort grew within this circle. None. No trees, no grass, not even weeds were growing within the circle. After determining that the circle was probably about a half mile radius, the boys gathered their supplies, left the truck, and started out for the cabin.

The cabin was old, but would be fine after some minor repairs and a bit of cleaning. Once they'd gotten there, they'd discovered that the cabin had four bedrooms—two upstairs and two down—a living area, kitchen, and one bathroom downstairs. There was also an attic—which they hadn't really explored, due to the fact that the hatch wouldn't open—and a small basement that had enough room for the water heater—which didn't work—the central wiring and the fuse box.

After the initial exploring of the building, Heero demanded he get one of the upstairs bedrooms. After much negotiating, Duo took the remaining upstairs bedroom, and Quatre and Wufei took the two downstairs ones. Trowa graciously said that he would take the couch in the living room.

"Duo, you moron, stop that and start helping!" insisted Wufei.

As Duo whirled around with the broom one last time, he smacked into Heero, who had just walked into the room from the kitchen, where he had replaced the last burnt out light bulb in the cabin. With a glare, Heero grabbed the broom from the American boy and whacked him on the head with it.

"Hey!" whined Duo. "What was that for?"

"Stop playing around," said Heero, not answering Duo's question. With that, the boy with the cobalt-blue eyes let go of the broom and let it fall to the ground.

Before Duo could voice the insult that came to his mind, the front door opened and Trowa walked in with some of the boxes of food they had brought with them, but had to leave in the truck, for lack of ability to carry it all at once.

"Quatre is coming with the last of it," said Trowa looking around the room. "It doesn't look too bad in here, and you got the power going. Good," he noted, looking up at the light fixture with its three light bulbs.

"Finally, some recognition."

Wufei rolled his eyes. "That's the only thing you've done so far."

"Whatever, Wufei. You're just jealous of my amazing abilities..." Duo began with a grin on his face.

"Get over yourself. The only thing that's amazing, is that you have the ability to be so annoying."

Turning towards the window, Duo said, "Whaaaateeever, you just don't know how to ha...v...e ..." his sentence faded as he looked out the window. Kneeling on the ground with two large boxes in front of him was Quatre.

Not kneeling... crouching... cowering...

Duo walked swiftly out the door and called Quatre's name. No response. The other three followed him out. When Quatre didn't respond they all ran out to him.

When they reached the blond boy, Trowa reached out and laid a hand on Quatre's shoulder. He could feel Quatre's body trembling beneath his fingers. "Quatre?"

The Arabian boy spoke quietly, not looking up. "Aish?"(1)

Not understanding Arabic, Trowa tried again. "Quatre, I don't understand... are you okay?"

"Aiwa ... la ... yimken ...(2)" After a pause, he looked up at the four worried boys and said, "I ... I'm just not feeling well. I think... I... I... I'm... going to, uh, go lay down. Ismahlee(3) ..." And with that he got up and stumbled away from the four pilots and into the cabin.

After a moment of silent confusion, Heero stood up and walked back to the cabin. "We have things to do."

After exchanging worried looks, the others followed.

* * *

Laying on the dusty old mattress, Quatre Raberba Winner was trembling ... shaking. He wrapped his arms around himself to try to stop it. When he had first set foot on this plot of land, he had felt strange... uncertain. Walking into the cabin the first time, he had felt... spooked... uneasy. He had quickly volunteered to help Trowa get the rest of the food. He had thought that maybe his imagination was playing tricks on him and maybe he just needed to get used to their new creepy surroundings. He had felt better going back to the truck, but as he started walking back to the cabin with the boxes, the unease returned. This time with another emotion.

Fear.

_Why aren't there any plants in this area? We're in the middle of a forest... _He had thought, looking around at the barren ground surrounding the old building. He had never felt anything like this, not even when piloting Sandrock. Piloting the Gundam was different. He always felt sad about having to fight with other people… killing them. Sometimes he felt fear before a battle, but that feeling of fear was nothing like this.

The sounds of the forest were fading behind him—leaving only the sound of his steps on the hard rocky ground to echo loudly in the growing silence that surrounded him.

This was...

_creepy... _

With every step he took towards the cabin, the feeling grew more and more... ominous. Then, he had stopped. He felt... Dropping the boxes, he started looking around.

Nothing.

He saw nothing.

No one.

But, he felt ... There was someone there. Something there. There was some...

He fell to his knees. The world seemed to sway. He could feel something...

Even now, in the small room he was occupying, he felt the... strangeness. The feeling of not being alone...

There was a knock on his door, then "Quatre?"

_Duo_...

"Hey buddy, you... you okay in there?"

Tears began to leak from his eyes. He couldn't tell them. They would think he was crazy. They'd laugh. They wouldn't believe him.

No.

He would keep this to himself. He didn't want to lose the only friends his own age that he had. _It will probably go away ... I'm sure it's just my mind playing tricks on me... _he thought, trying to convince himself.  
:clears throat: Yeah, I totally don't know Arabic, so I hope these are right… If anyone does know Arabic and wants to correct or affirm what I have, that would be great.

* * *

1- Aish – what

2- Aiwa – yes, La – no, Yimken – maybe

3 -Ismahlee – excuse me


	2. Communications out

**Dead Ground**

**2**

**Communications Out**

As the morning sun shone through the window, Duo moaned and covered his face with the pillow. He realized his mistake a second too late as dust from the old pillow puffed out into the air and into his face. Coughing and sneezing he hurled the pillow across the room, sending yet another puff of dust into the air. The pillow hit the dresser and landed on the floor. Now fully awake, the braided boy stood up and dusted off his face and body. Surveying the small room, he located the offending dust magnet and threw it back on the bed.

All four rooms were almost exactly the same. Each had a small closet, twin bed, dresser and a large mirror that was mounted above the dresser. Also each room had a small window. The windows didn't open, and some of them were dirty enough to dim any light that was coming through them.

Glancing out the window, he spotted Wufei doing his morning 'ritual'. Every morning, the he would get up at the break of dawn, practice his forms, then meditate. Duo preferred to spend the morning drinking coffee and relaxing.

_Mmm... coffee. _

The thought of the rich brown nectar of life had Duo out of his room in seconds. His room was the closer of the two rooms to the stairs. Not glancing at Heero's door, he grabbed a hold of the railing as he walked towards the stairs, looking down on the living room as he did so. He saw Trowa folding the blankets he had used the night before.

"Mornin' Trowa," he said, descending the stairs.

Looking up briefly, the quiet boy said, "Good morning, Duo," and continued his folding.

Duo continued past the other boy and on into the kitchen. After he started a pot of coffee, he returned to the living room. "No Heero or Quatre yet?" Duo asked Trowa as he glanced worriedly at Quatre's room, then quickly up to the room next to his.

"No."

Sighing, Duo's gaze returned to Quatre's room. Quatre had stayed in his room the whole day, except for a quick trip to the restroom, in which he kept his gaze averted from the others and practically ran back to his room.

Both Duo and Trowa had tried to get Quatre to eat a little something with no success. They finally decided to leave him alone for the night and maybe he'd feel better in the morning. After all, Quatre was a pretty healthy guy, and a social butterfly, there was no way that small room was going to keep him for long.

Glancing over at a worried Trowa, Duo put on a cheerful face and said, "Don't worry Trowa, it's probably just elevation sickness or something." The smell of coffee began to creep from the kitchen. Realizing his addiction was ready, Duo quickly gave Trowa a reassuring look and returned to the kitchen for his coffee.

* * *

By mid-morning all of the gundam pilots were up and about. Even Quatre had made and appearance, waving off the other boys' concerns, on his way from the only bathroom, before quickly retreating once again to his room.

An irritated Heero had announced over lunch that he was unable to pick up any signals on his laptop, and, therefore, no one would be contacting them that way. Trowa then informed the group that their handsets were not working properly here either, and so there would be no contact with anyone outside the forest.

Duo spent the rest of the day tinkering with the broken water heater, visions of a nice warm shower egging him on. Heero and Quatre spent the rest of the day in their own rooms. Heero was messing with his laptop, as usual. And, Quatre was laying on his bed, curled up in the fetal position. Trowa and Duo had checked on him a few times, but the blond insisted they not worry about him. Wufei spent the day meditating behind the cabin and Trowa spent it reading some of the materials he had gathered on his last mission.

* * *

Not paying any attention when Duo finally gave up on a warm shower and decided to just 'hit the hay', or when Wufei came in from meditating and retired to his room, Trowa finally noticed that it was dark out. Not only was it dark, it was late—really late. He reached in his bag and pulled out the pocket watch the ringmaster at the circus had given him, and checked the time.

Late.

Yes, it was late.

Sighing, Trowa returned the papers he had been reading to the folder he had taken them from, and slipped the folder in his bag. He took out the blankets he had used the night before and began to spread them on the couch. As he did so, one of the three light bulbs over head went out. He glanced up at the bulb.

_Heero just changed those yesterday. Must have been a bad bulb..._

Shrugging it off, Trowa finished laying the blankets down, turned off the lights and was instantly asleep.

* * *

In one of the downstairs bedrooms, Quatre watched the light from the front room creep into his bedroom from under his door. He watched it for a long time, his gaze never straying.

A thought flitted through his mind.

_It's out there..._

He watched as the light under his door became a little dimmer.

Pressing his back up against the wall, and pulling the covers tighter around himself, he watched.

The light under the door went out.

Closing his eyes tightly, the blond boy whispered to himself...

"I'm not crazy. There's nothing there. I'm not crazy. There's nothing there. I'm not crazy. There's nothing there..."


	3. Light bulbs

**Dead Ground**

**3**

**Light Bulbs**

Quatre opened his eyes. It was dark; still night.

_I must have fallen asleep._

There was a faint light coming in through the dirty window. The moon light gently lighting up the room. He hated this room. He hated this cabin. He hadn't slept—except for this one dozing off—since they had arrived at the cabin.

Mother Nature had woken him with her call, and though you could ignore most mothers when they called, Mother Nature wasn't one of them. Sighing he threw off the covers, and swung his feet to the floor. The wood beneath his feet was cold. He hurried out of his room and into the bathroom to have his 'chat' with Mother Nature.

* * *

Washing his hands in the cold water coming from the tap, Quatre looked into the mirror in front of him. His eyes looked red and he was starting to get dark circles under them. Frowning back at his reflection, he shut the water off. He turned toward the towel rack, and began to dry his hands when he heard a sizzling sound, a pop, and then there was darkness.

He whipped around and stared at the burned out bulb that was located above the mirror. It took his eyes a minute to adjust from the electric light to the soft moonlight that came through the window. His gaze fell to his reflection and he gasped. His reflection stood there with its arms folded looking back at him; giving him a look that could have rivaled Heero's best glare. His heart was beating so quickly in his chest that he thought he would die of a heart attack any moment. He couldn't believe he was seeing that look on _his_ face.

He backed up a step, only to have his back connect painfully with the towel rack. The reflection's face changed from a frightening glare to an equally frightening smile. Not taking his eyes off the mirror, Quatre started to inch toward the door. It was only an arm's length away. His hand touched the door and he quickly grasped for the doorknob only to find himself unable to open it. He looked away from the mirror to the knob. Grasping the bronze thing with both hands he tried to turn it. No luck. He was shaking and he had tears running down his cheeks, although he was unaware of either.

Looking back to the mirror he saw the same evil smile played out his reflection's face. Then the blond reflection looked down and made a movement with his hand, which was hidden since the mirror didn't extend down that far. Looking back at Quatre, the reflection's smile widened as he lifted his hand to show a straight razor. Looking quickly down to the sink counter he spotted the real razor lying near the faucet. The razor had been there when they first came to the cabin, and by the looks of the rust on the blade, it had been there quite a while.

The reflection lifted the rusty blade and ran one of its fingers, from its other hand, along the sharp edge. A small blossom of red showed on the reflection's finger. The blade may have been old and rusty, but it was still sharp. Feeling a stinging in his own finger, he lifted his hand and stared. It was the same cut. His eyes widened as he saw another small cut appear on another finger.

Realizing the implications of this new development, Quatre felt his need to escape the small bathroom increase. Turning back to the doorknob he used all the strength to try to turn the knob. With the addition of more small cuts in his skin, the doorknob became slippery with his blood. Franticly, he banged on the door. Turning his face toward the mirror once again, he saw, before he felt on his own arm, the razor slice into the fleshy part of his reflection's upper arm. His free hand flew to the cut. He squeezed his eyes shut at the pain. He sobbed as he felt a twin cut on his other arm.

Opening his eyes, he looked back at the horrid imitation of himself. Holding the razor, the reflection looked as if it were ready to pounce. Realizing the reflection meant to come after the real him, and realizing there was no escape, Quatre sobbed even harder and started shaking his head.

"No, no, no, no..." he whispered over and over again.

Suddenly, the reflection leaped towards him, death in its eyes.

Quatre screamed...

...And opened his eyes.

He gasped, sitting bolt upright. His heart was racing and his breath coming in shallow gasps. He looked wildly around, realizing he was no longer in the dark bathroom, but in his bedroom; morning sun peaking in through the window. He wrapped his arms around himself, sobbing in relief. His hands moved to where the large cuts had been in his dream, and stopped. Looking over at one of his arms he saw a large scar. He quickly turned his head to the other arm. Another scar. It looked as if he had gotten the cuts weeks ago. He looked quickly to his fingers.

Nothing.

Those cuts had been small, so of course they would be gone, he reasoned with himself.

His subconscious screamed at him to become more aware of himself. He had calmed now and was no longer sobbing. Unfortunately, his skin was moist and clammy, and he was feeling a bit dizzy. Had he been more aware of himself he would have realized that his body was in a mild state of shock. But as it was, the frightened pilot of the gundam Sandrock only lay back down, and continue to stare at his fingers.

* * *

Walking down the stairs, carrying his laptop, cables and other odds and ends, Heero could smell something cooking. The noise from the kitchen was also proof that someone had taken the initiative to make breakfast on the old relic that passed for a stove. His stomach growled, but he ignored it, knowing that he would eat eventually, so there was no need to worry about rushing to eat. As he reached the bottom of the stairs, Duo poked his head out of the bathroom.

"Heero, I thought you changed all the light bulbs."

"I did."

"Well... the one in the bathroom is out." Grinning, Duo continued. "You must have forgooootten the bathroom light."

Scowling, Heero replied, "I did not forget the bathroom light."

"Well, it's not working, you must have. Or maybe the bulbs you picked were duds. You should have had meeee pick them out. You know, leave this kind of thing to the experts."

Setting his laptop and the cables he had been carrying down on one of the end tables near the couch, Heero fished in one of the boxes they had carried in, and got another light bulb out. Shouldering Duo aside, Heero reached up and quickly replaced the burnt out bulb.

"My hero," Duo chimed. Seeing the irritated look on Heero's face, Duo burst out laughing, and draped an arm around the other boy's shoulders. Leaning in close he said suggestively, "You want to be _my Heero,_ don't you." Giving Duo a cold stare, Heero pushed his arms away and walked back into the living room, leaving the laughing Duo alone in the bathroom.

Walking out of the kitchen with a stained apron on, Trowa looked over at the bathroom, then over to Heero.

"What's going on?"

"Nothing."

Trowa just shook his head, then nodded to the burnt out bulb the Japanese boy was holding.

"Oh, that reminds me, one of the light bulbs burnt out last night," he said, pointing to the three lights on the ceiling.

As Trowa returned to the kitchen, Heero looked up at the three bulbs. He then turned his attention to the dead bulb in his hand. His expression changed to one of confusion. The bulb should have lasted for months. Did he pick out bad bulbs? He didn't think so. He turned a glare back in Duo's direction, though the glare was some what ineffective since the braided boy was unaware that it was being directed at him. Still, glaring at Duo made him feel better.

While glaring at Duo, a thought came to him. This thought took the glare off his face. Thinking for a moment, he decided the thought was probably correct. He suddenly realized he had a smug smile on his face and quickly changed it to his usual expression.

"Duo," he called.

"Hu?"

As he walked back toward the bathroom he began to let the American know exactly what on his mind.

* * *

Trowa knocked on Quatre's door.

No answer.

He knocked again and said, "Quatre, its Trowa. I made breakfast."

Still no answer.

"I'm coming in."

Upon entering the room, Trowa found Quatre lying on his back, covers up to his neck, looking toward the celling.

"He shouldn't be out there..."

Trowa looked down at the other boy. "What? Who?"

Trowa looked out the window to see Wufei going over his forms.

"Wufei."

Looking back at the other boy, Trowa said, "Why?"

Quatre didn't answer him. He just continued to stare at the ceiling. Trowa looked back out the window, and wondering why Wufei shouldn't be out there. Quatre had a sort of sixth sense about things, and Trowa trusted his intuition. But then, it must not be too important if his friend didn't choose elaborate on it. He was sure Quatre would say something if it was really important. Deciding not to peruse it, and quickly forgetting about it, Trowa knelt and looked down at the plate of food he still held.

"Are you hungry?"

"Not really."

"I think you should, at least, eat a little. You don't look very good."

"I'm not really hungry."

Reaching down, Trowa touched the side of Quatre's face and frowned. In different circumstances he would have suspected the other boy was suffering from shock, but that would make no sense.

"Can I do anything for you, Quatre?" said Trowa, his voice heavy with concern.

Quatre continued to stare at the ceiling for a few moments, then turned his head and looked at Trowa. He didn't speak right away, but when he did he said, "Trowa, is it right for us to abandon our duties and be hiding here?"

Trowa just stared.

"We shouldn't be hiding here when we could be helping other people. People are dying out there. We need to be there to stop the war."

"Quatre, there is a time for everything. Right now we need to be in hiding. You know that. Also, I don't think you are in any shape to fight."

Trowa had a lot of confidence in Quatre's abilities as a soldier, and he knew that if worse came to worse, the small blond would give everything he had. But there was no need. Not right now.

Again Trowa touched the side of Quatre's face, but this time he let his hand slide up to Quatre's forehead then began to smooth the sweat dampened, blond hair with his fingers.

"Trowa..."

"Shhh... Don't worry." Trowa smiled kindly down at Quatre. "There will be plenty of fighting for you to do later. Besides, the truck still needs to be fixed before we go anywhere, remember?"

Trowa took his hand away and placed the plate of eggs on the floor. "I'm leaving this here for when you get hungry." He stood and walked toward the door. He opened the door, and looked at Quatre saying, "Get better," before walking out the door and closing it softly.

Trowa stood there for a moment, back against Quatre's door.

_Please get better Quatre. I can't stand to see you like this..._

Looking over to the couch, he saw Heero kneeling on the floor, laptop beside him, messing with a bunch of cables, and a various assortment of wire rods.

"Is he any better?"

Trowa walked over beside Heero and shook his head. "No, not really." Eying the mess around the kneeling boy he said, "What's all this for?"

Stopping what he was doing, Heero turned his attention to Trowa.

"I was thinking that if..."

Trowa listened to Heero's quick explanation half heartedly, the welfare of his sick comrade taking the forefront attention in his mind.


	4. Imaginings

**Dead Ground**

**4**

**Imaginings**

Wufei toweled the sweat off his face and looked up at the sky. The sky was blue and there were a few clouds. Looking off in the distance he knew that would change soon; if not today then tomorrow. Maybe they'd be lucky and get some rain. There was a small breeze and he was enjoying it immensely. Going over his forms was quite a workout, and he wished there were more of a breeze then there was. He also wished there were some trees, or plants, or something around here. He enjoyed nature and was tempted to sprint to the edge of the forest so that he could meditate among the living plants.

He didn't much care for where they were staying. It was dead—all of it. No plants, no animals, not even the sound of insects. He had spent the day outside yesterday and he didn't even see a bird fly over the area.

It just wasn't right.

He decided, in the end, that it would be best if he stayed near the cabin. After making that decision, he settled himself down on the ground, closed his eyes, and began to clear his mind.

"Wufei..."

It was a soft whisper, but in the absolute silence it was easy to catch. The Chinese boy opened his eyes and looked around.

There was no one.

_I must have imagined it, _he thought. Once again he closed his eyes.

"Wufei..."

This time it was louder. No, it was closer; it sounded closer. His eyes popped open and he whipped his head around, first in one direction, then in another.

Again, there was no one.

_That sounded like... No, I'm just imagining things._

After a few moments of silence, Wufei, feeling unsettled, once again closed his eyes.

"Wufei."

His eyes flew open and he was on his feet in an instant. He looked around wildly. It was _her_! He would know her voice anywhere! He continued to scan the area; first toward the cabin, then toward the forest.

No one was there.

No one...

The disappointment hit him like a knife in heart. He could have sworn...

He realized he had been holding his breath, and he let it out slowly. As he did so, he felt a hand on his shoulder, and the breath he was breathing out, quickly became a gasp. He turned around quickly, expecting to see her, and blinked a couple of times before his mind registered that it wasn't who his heart desired it to be.

It was Heero Yuy.

He blinked again and realized Trowa was also there, standing behind Yuy. Yuy cocked his head and narrowed his eyes.

"Yuy!" Wufei finally managed to gasp.

"Are you alright?" This from Trowa.

Wufei looked from one pilot to the other. He opened his mouth, then shut it. Finally he said, "Of course. Why wouldn't I be?"

The two other pilots looked at each other then back to Wufei.

"We called to you. We thought you heard us because you looked up, but then you began meditating again." This time it was Heero who spoke. "We called a second time, and we were sure you heard us, but then you went back to meditating again. When we called you a third time and you got up and stared straight at us, but then you looked away. It was like you were looking for someone." Heero paused then said, "_Were _you looking for someone?"

Wufei considered telling them, but decided against it. It would make him seem weak.

Yes.

Telling them he was hearing voices, and that he hadn't seen them at all, would _definitely_ make him seem weak.

Weak _and_ unstable.

He wouldn't have that.

Deciding not to answer Heero's question he realized for the first time that Yuy was carrying his laptop, and both pilots were carrying some wires and metal rods. Nodding his head at what the two boys were holding he asked, "What's all that for?"

* * *

Holding the light fixture away from the wall, Duo inspected the wires that connected the light fixture to the wall. The wires were in good condition. The wires were connected to the light fixture correctly. Everything was fine. Sighing, he replaced the light fixture. After stepping off the stool, he picked up his check list.

Basement X  
Bathroom X  
Living room X  
Kitchen X  
His room X  
Heero's room X  
Wufei's room  
Quatre's room

Putting the pencil to the paper he checked off Wufei's room. _One left, _he thought as he picked up his stuff, and looked around. Wufei would have a fit if his room wasn't left exactly how Duo had found it.

After closing the door to the Chinese boy's room he turned to Quatre's door. He knocked softly. No answer. He knocked again, this time with an added, "Quatre, it's Duo. I need to come in to check the light in there." After this he heard a soft "Okay..." With that, Duo let himself into the other boy's room, softly closing the door behind him. As he put the stool and tools down he looked up and asked, "Are you feeling any better?"

"Not really."

"Gee, I'm sorry to hear that. You don't look too good either."

Duo turned around and walked over to the light switch and flicked it on. Nothing happened. Flipping the light switch on and off a few times while watching the light bulb, he said, "Hmm... Well, looks like your light bulb is burned out too."

That got the blond boy's attention. He pulled the blankets tighter around himself.

"Are other lights burnt out?"

"Yeah, one out in the living room and the one in the bathroom." He picked up some tools and got on the stool. He reached for the light fixture to take it down. "So now I'm going around this stupid cabin checking all the wires and stuff because the Perfect Asshole can't accept the fact that he picked out some bad bulbs. Must be the wiring he says... whatever."

_Some people just have no sense of humor, _Duo thought.

He inspected the wires. They were good, just like all the others. "Well, anyway, this one is the last one, and it's fine."

After putting the light fixture back in place he unscrewed the burnt out light bulb. Glancing at the blond he said, "I'll be back." and left to get a new bulb. Duo soon returned as promised and the new bulb he brought back took its place in the light fixture. After checking to make sure the new bulb worked properly, he checked off the last room on his list, then looked over at Quatre.

"It's almost lunch." He looked down at the plate by Quatre's bed. "Those eggs look nasty, why don't I bring you something fresh?"

"No thank you. I'm not really hungry."

"We'll, too bad! You need to eat." And with that said, Duo reached down, picked up the plate of cold eggs, and headed toward the door.

"Duo..."

He stopped and looked back over his shoulder. "Hmm?"

"We shouldn't be here." Duo turned fully to face him.

"What? What do you mean?"

"Well... We should be out there. Not hiding out here, you know. Besides, aren't you bored? I mean, well, there isn't anything out here to do and..."

"Quatre," Duo interrupted "We have to keep ourselves alive to fight OZ, you know that. Besides, being here isn't too boring ... yet." he smiled "Besides, I've got things to keep me busy. Probably try to fix that water heater again today. Maybe tomorrow I'll go try to fix that truck. We won't be going anywhere 'till that's fixed. Anyway, don't worry about the war or me right now. Just rest up." And with that he was out the door.

"It's not all that important to be able to contact anyone right now."

* * *

Heero glared at Wufei. "Yes it is."

"I think Wufei is right, Heero. After all, with all the broken links in our network right now, it's probably best if we keep our disappearance complete at the moment."

Heero turned his glare on Trowa. "It's not just being able to communicate. We can't get any information on what is going on out there. We're completely shut off from ANY information."

Standing outside the cabin, the three pilots continued to argue.

"Yuy, be reasonable. For one thing, this idea of yours to put up some sort of... of..." Wufei waved his hand in the general direction of the cabin. "...antenna on the roof, most likely won't work. Besides, that roof looks like it could use major repair. I don't think any of us should be on it."

Heero's glare turned, once again, to Wufei.

Wufei shook his head. "Fine. Do as you please, you always do anyway, but don't expect _my_ help on this crazy idea of yours." Wufei began walking back to the cabin muttering something about "Laptop Addicts Anonymous".

Heero glared at Wufei's retreating form. "What was that, Chang?"

The shaking of his shoulders was enough to let both Heero and Trowa know that Wufei was getting a chuckle out of whatever he had said.

Heero turned back to Trowa in time to see the small smile on Trowa's face change to a more serious look. Heero's eyes narrowed.

"Well, what about you, Barton?"

Trowa folded his arms. "Heero, we're not going to be here all that long. I wouldn't worry about it. I'm sure we're not missing that much." Trowa glanced at the roof of the cabin. "Probably better to be safe then sorry, wouldn't you say?"

The two pilots stared at each other for a moment. After getting no response, Trowa turned around and headed back inside the cabin, leaving the Japanese boy alone with his laptop and a various assortment of wires and cables.

* * *

Lying on his bed, Duo looked up at the ceiling. It had been a frustrating day. He had checked all the wiring in the cabin, but hadn't found any problems. When he had found Heero to tell him his findings, the other boy had only paused long enough to look up from whatever crazy project he was working on and give him the 'death glare'. As if it were _his_ fault that Heero had picked out duds for light bulbs. _Well, whatever_. He had thought. He left Heero to whatever he was doing and decided to make himself and Quatre something to eat.

Apparently, Trowa and Wufei had also decided it was time for lunch, because by the time he made it back to the kitchen, the other two boys were already getting stuff out for lunch.

As they worked, Trowa and Wufei told Duo of Heero's idea. That eventually let to jokes about how Heero had probably never had a baby blanket, so he was making up for that with his laptop. Unfortunately, the topic of their conversation happened to enter the room at that moment. The laughter had died when they saw his glare and realized he had heard what they had just said. Before Heero stomped out of the kitchen, Duo thought he had seen something else in the cobalt-blue eyes.

Was it hurt?

Duo had long suspected that the pilot of Wing Zero felt more then he let on, but it was hard not to react to the stony expression he usually wore. Hard to forget that behind that expression there was a human being, not a machine.

The three of them had gone back to their food preparation in silence. They had fixed food for Quatre, but of course he didn't eat a bite. He did, however, drink a bit of some tea Wufei had fixed up. Duo had smelled it and was confused about how Quatre would drink something that smelled like gym socks, but not eat what they had fixed for lunch.

Quatre asked them if they would bring him another blanket. Unfortunately, there was only one blanket left packed in their supplies. It was thin and not very big. Trowa offered to give Quatre his blanket and take the small one, but Quatre refused. He had insisted the thin blanket was exactly what he wanted. Duo had felt guilty for not offering his blanket to the sick boy, but the cabin wasn't the warmest of places at night, and of course, Quatre wouldn't have taken his blanket, anymore then he had taken Trowa's.

Quatre also asked for a large bottle. He wouldn't say what the bottle was for, just that he wanted one. Trowa, Wufei and Duo all had milk with their lunch, so as to empty one of the milk jugs for him.

Correction.

Trowa had milk, and Duo had milk... and Duo had Wufei's milk. Apparently the Chinese pilot wasn't fond of milk.

After lunch he had retreated to the basement where he had worked on the water heater for the rest of the day. Of course, he should have known that he wouldn't get it working. He had finally given up and took a cold shower. It was one of those times when he wished his hair was shorter. The water wasn't just cold. It was freezing!

He pulled his blanket closer and looked over toward the wall. Heero's room was on the other side of that wall. Duo frowned. He really did want to be friends with Heero? Well... He would like to be more then friends with him, but he wouldn't think about that. He didn't know what Heero would think if he knew Duo was thinking about him that way. Hell, _he _didn't even know how he felt about himself thinking this way. Heero would most likely kill him, or try to. He was pretty sure the dark haired boy didn't swing that way, but then, from what he knew of Heero's personality, did he really _want_ a relationship with someone who had the personality of a rock?

He shook his head. No, that wasn't fair. He was pretty sure that all he had really seen of Heero Yuy was a wall. A mask. A facade. Even Heero's name was a mask. It wasn't even really his name. His mind jumped from one thing to another, but never really left the subject of Heero. Sighing, he realized he was thinking about _exactly_ what he told himself he wasn't going to think about. He tried to think about something else, but his mind eventually wondered back to the boy with the messy hair that was currently residing in the room next to his.

He closed his eyes and imagined Heero in his mind. Imagined that damn sexy body close to him. He imagined that he could run his hands over...

A creak pulled him away from his thought. He opened his eyes and looked up at the ceiling. For a moment there was silence, then there was another creak, only this time louder. There was an attic up there, but when they had first come to the cabin they had been unable to get the hatch open to explore up there.

_Maybe it's just mice..._

Another creak.

_Really... big mice...?_

Then again... They hadn't seen any mice in the cabin.

Suddenly there was a thud above him. Duo sat up quickly at that, and decided that he would rather not be alone right now. Jumping out of bed, he grabbed his blanket, wrapped it around himself and left his room.

Now in the small upstairs hall, Duo looked up. The hatch to the attic was just above his head. He now felt glad that they hadn't been able to get the hatch to open.

Duo looked over the railing, down to the living room. It was dark. Apparently Trowa had decided to go to bed. Sighing, Duo turned around. Heero was still up. He knew this because the light from Heero's room was seeping out from under the door, lighting the hall with a soft glow.

He looked back to his door, then back to Heero's, trying to decide.


	5. Tea

**Dead Ground**

**5**

**Tea**

Heero Yuy sat on his bed, typing a report that wouldn't be sent anytime soon. He stopped typing for a moment and looked blankly at the wall for a moment, then a small frown appeared on his face, and he looked back to the laptop. Lifting a hand from the keyboard, he slid his fingers over the top of the flat-screen. The slim machine had been a faithful companion through many missions, the bringer of useful information, and a way to send and receive important messages...

His laptop had also kept him company when he was bored out of his mind. The other pilots most likely would never have believed the library of games he had installed on the thing.

Most importantly, his laptop never made jokes at his expense. It never mocked him or laughed at him. It didn't judge him by what was on the outside. In fact, it didn't judge him at all. Not like people did. Of course, what could he expect? He never made a real effort to get to know anyone and no one really made the effort to get to know him. He didn't even want to know himself, so why should he think anyone else would want to?

Bringing his fingers back to the keyboard he resumed his typing. He had decided to prepare the report on a whim. Having something to send to Doctor J would be good, but it wasn't something that had to be done right now. He glanced out the window. He needed to figure something out. If he couldn't restore the link with the world outside of this forest, what would he do? He felt useless enough as it was, not having anything to do. He hated feeling useless, because when he felt useless he felt worthless. And if he wasn't worth anything, then what was the use of continuing on?

The others were right... He did live for the mission. He lived for the mission, because it was all he had. It was the only thing that made him feel like he was worth something.

A small knock on his door brought him out of his dark thoughts. He looked at the small clock located on the bottom right corner of his computer screen. Who would be bothering him at this time of the night?

The knock came again.

After saving his work, then minimizing the window, Heero got up and walked to the door. Upon opening the door, his eyes rested on Duo, wrapped in a blanket, head down, fist raised, and ready to knock again.

Realizing the door had been opened; Duo lifted his head and lowered his fist. He looked at Heero for a moment, then away quickly—looking for all the world, like a lost puppy.

"Uhhh..." Duo finally decided on something to say and brought his eyes back to Heero. "Sooo, you're still awake, that's great, so am I. Can I come in?" The last said with one of his trademark smiles.

Heero folded his arms, irritation showing on his face. Had Duo been able to read Heero's heart, he would have realized irritation was the last thing Heero was feeling. As it was however, Duo could only read the expression on Heero's face.

"Come on, Heero," Duo whined. "I can't sleep. Let me hang out in here. Pleeeaaase."

Heero stood in the doorway a moment longer, then turned around and went back to his bed. Duo let himself in and shut the door.

"Sooo. Whatcha doin'?" Duo asked curiously.

"Typing a report."

"Oh."

Heero brought up the window again and began typing. After about five minutes he finished his report, saved again, and closed the word processor. Looking up, he realized Duo was in the same spot that he had been five minutes ago. Not only that, but he had remained quiet while Heero had finished. Heero was about to ask Duo if he was ill, but decided against it. Looking at the ceiling with a worried look on his face, Duo shifted his weight to his other foot. Heero looked up to see what Duo was staring at, but there was only the ceiling.

"Duo."

Startled, Duo jumped a little and turned his attention to Heero.

"Uh, sorry. I was just thinking about the creaking and stuff."

"What creaking?"

Duo's eyes widened. "You didn't hear it? A little bit ago there was some noises coming from up there." The last words were punctuated by Duo pointing his finger up at the ceiling. Heero just stared at him. "You didn't hear anything?"

Heero shook his head slowly. He had no idea what the other pilot was talking about.

Duo looked at Heero for a minute, then said in disbelief, "It was pretty loud. I can't believe you didn't hear it." He narrowed his eyes. "You have to be joking."

Heero raised an eyebrow.

"Ooookay. Maybe not. But I still can't believe you didn't hear it."

"This house is old Duo. It will creak. Deal with it." Duo looked up, then back at Heero as if wanting to argue but not knowing what to say. Heero shook his head and began shutting down his laptop. Really, Duo was much too paranoid about some things.

Duo stuck out his lower lip, and said, "It wasn't just some random 'house creaking'." Ignoring him, Heero closed the laptop, walked over to the dresser and set the laptop down. Duo moved closer to him and said, "Look. Heero. I know what I heard." Duo lowered his voice to a whisper. "There is something up there." Duo's eyes were wide and nervous.

Heero leaned in close to Duo. "Duo," he whispered calmly. "There. Is. Nothing. Up. There." They stood staring at each other for several minutes. Then Duo sighed and slumped his shoulders.

"Fine. Maybe you're right. But still..." Duo shook his head. "Can I stay in here, just for tonight? It might be nothing, but I'm pretty spooked and I just know that I won't be able to get to sleep if I'm alone." Duo's eyes pleaded with him to say yes.

Heero once again donned the irritated look. "And waste one of the few chances I have for a good night's sleep?" Heero said, hoping it didn't sound as hollow to Duo as it did to himself.

Duo frowned and made 'puppy dog' eyes at Heero. "Pleeeese," he begged, and began to make small whimpering noises.

Heero narrowed his eyes. It was a habit he had developed to keep himself from showing what he truly felt when Duo did such things. Folding his arms, Heero said, forcing an irritated tone, "Fine, as long as you stop that annoying sound."

Duo quit the charade immediately, and grinned. Turning his attention to the floor, he looked around. Finding an acceptable spot, he laid down, trying to get as comfortable as he could. Heero watched all this, then shook his head.

"Maxwell, take the bed."

Duo lifted his head, a surprised look on his face. "What? Are you sure? Where will you sleep?" Duo hoped he wouldn't blush.

"I'll take the floor."

Duo felt slightly disappointed. He was half hoping Heero would suggest sharing the bed.

"I don't want to kick you out of your bed. I don't mind sleeping here."

Heero folded his arms. "Look. I'm doing you a favor by letting you stay in here when I don't have to. That means you sleep where I tell you to sleep, and I'm telling you to sleep on the bed."

"But, why?"

"Because the bed will be warmer."

Confused by that answer, Duo said, "What does that have to do with anything?"

Heero exhaled in exasperation. "Duo, I've shared enough rooms with you to know that you don't own any pajamas and you usually sleep in just your boxers, even if it's below zero outside. I happen to be smarter than you, so I brought something warm to sleep in." He pulled on the sweats he was wearing as if to prove that point.

Duo pressed his lips together and glared at Heero. He hated it when Heero insulted him for no reason. Yes, he had slept in just his boxers when it was below zero outside one time, but that was it. He also knew it was stupid, but he didn't need to have his intelligence insulted. Why he was attracted to Heero was beyond him. You think the guy might be half way decent one minute, but realize your mistake in the next when he shows you just how much of an arrogant bastard he is.

"No thank-you, I'm just fine where I am," Duo said tersely and rolled over on his side.

He heard Heero walk to the bed and pull the blanket roughly off the bed. A moment later it was in a pile on the floor next to him. Duo had only a second to process that thought when he felt Heero pick him up and through him bodily onto the bed.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Duo squawked angrily. Instead of answering, Heero went about laying his blanket on the floor.

_Fine, _he thought, and turned around to face the wall. Forcefully, he slammed his body into the mattress and pulled his blanket tighter around himself. _Let him sleep on the floor! Who gives a rat's ass anyway_?

Duo could hear some faint rustling as Heero settled into his blanket, then silence. He decided he would stay awake until Heero was asleep and get even. Formulating what little prank he would play on his comrade, he lay there, waiting for Heero's breathing to even out. Soon, however, sleep overtook him. He never felt the weight of the second blanket that was laid on top of him, or the hand that hesitantly caressed the long braid that hung off the side of the bed.

* * *

The door opened and Wufei slipped out of his room. He silently padded across the floor, taking note of Trowa's sleeping form on the couch, and slipped into the kitchen. Filling a small pot with water, he set it on the stove to boil. It was still quite dark in the cabin, but the pre-dawn light lit the cabin enough for him to see without turning on a light.

Turning, he opened one of the cupboards and removed a cup. His nose wrinkled in disgust. He didn't like the dishes that were already here when they arrived. Even though he had washed them all, they still seemed dirty; greasy somehow. Everything seemed dirty, even though they had gone through and cleaned the place.

He leaned back against one of the counters while he waited for the water to boil. He folded his arms and idly looked around the kitchen. He didn't like being inside the old cabin. It didn't help that the morning hours were the worst. The air smelled old and damp, as if they were living in the middle of a swamp.

He frowned as he realized he was concentrating on how much he disliked the cabin, so he wouldn't think of her. Since yesterday, he had found that if he didn't force himself to think about something else, he would end up thinking about her. Why did he think he had heard her voice yesterday? He could have sworn that he _had_ heard it.

He set the cup down on the counter, and stared at it. It's not like they had loved each other. Not really. How could they? It was an arranged marriage and they were both so young.

Only children.

They fought all the time. They had hated each other at first. They were so different. But they had done what was expected of them. Even when they consummated the marriage, it was done because it was expected of them. After that one time, she had refused to let him touch her in that way again. When the time came for them to have children, she would have, but not until then.

He frowned at the horrid, greasy cup.

Not that he had wanted to. Losing his virginity to someone he didn't love was bad enough, but losing it to someone who just laid there, judging every move he made, was excruciatingly painful. Even now, he felt inadequate and embarrassed by the things she had said.

He looked away from the cup to check the water.

Over time things had became easier with one another. They still didn't like each other much, but they didn't outright hate each other. She insulted him and he ignored her. Eventually however, little things started happening. She would say something or do something thoughtful. He would respond to her and even talk a bit with her.

But then, she had told him of her decision to fight.

He had forbid it...

He looked away from the water and bowed his head to look at the floor.

He had dreamed of her last night. Dreamed of her alive. Dreamed of how she had scorned him for not fighting, for being a weak, cowardly scholar who didn't care about anyone but himself. She had told him that she would fight no matter what he did or said...

He had dreamed of her death. How he had held her in her last dying moments, and realized that she had been the honorable one, not he. She had been the strong one, not he. She shouldn't have had to fight. He should have fought. It should have been him who had died...

He had dreamed of how he had vowed to her that he would fight in her place. Fight to protect the weak...

He had dreamed of how she had died in his arms...

He cried when he awoke from the dream. It didn't matter that they had hated each other at first. It didn't matter that she had insulted him, ridiculed him, rejected him. She was his _wife_. _His wife_. Maybe someday they would have loved each other.

Maybe.

But now he would never know.

He silently willed the water to boil faster. He wanted to be done with what he was doing so he could go outside, concentrate on his forms, and try to forget.

Forget about the pain and the loneliness.

Reaching in his pocket he pulled out a cloth teabag. This particular blend of herbs was one that she had insisted on giving him when he had been ill. He brought the small bag close to his face and breathed in deeply. The smell reminded him of how tender she had been during those few days. It didn't really smell that great, and it tasted worse, but it did help.

Glancing over to the small pot, he realized the water was boiling. He breathed in the smell of the herbs one more time, a tear rolling down his cheek unnoticed, before he placed the teabag gently into the boiling water.

* * *

Wufei quietly opened Quatre's door and let himself into the room. The light from the continually brightening morning lit the small room. Wufei's eyebrows knit together in confusion. The small blanket Quatre had asked for yesterday, was now hanging over the mirror, hiding the reflective glass. He looked around. The empty milk jug was nowhere in sight. He looked over at the small form laying on the bed and realized Quatre was awake and staring at him.

He quickly checked his emotions. The closer one was to Quatre, the easier Quatre seemed to be able to pick up on emotions; especially strong emotions.

Wufei walked over to the bed and knelt down, putting himself at eye level with the other boy. One look told him that Quatre hadn't slept. The other pilot's eyes were red and there were dark circles under his eyes. It seemed to Wufei, that Quatre's eyes looked like the eyes of a scared animal; watchful and afraid.

"I brought you more tea," Wufei said quietly.

Quatre looked at the cup, then back at Wufei. After a moment of indecision, Quatre sat up and took the cup. Wufei studied the other boy as he sipped the tea. The pilot of the gundam Sandrock looked incredibly pale, more so than usual. It almost seemed as if his skin were becoming the same color as the white t-shirt hanging off of his thin shoulders.

"Wufei?" Quatre spoke quietly.

"Yes?"

"Do you think we're being cowards by hiding here?"

The question caught Wufei off guard and it took him a moment to answer.

"I don't know. Maybe."

Quatre took another sip from the cup, then held it out for Wufei to take. Wufei shook his head. "Just keep it here. I will tell Trowa to replace this with some fresh tea in about an hour." He stood and walked toward the door. "Drink as much as you can. It will help." With that said he opened the door and slipped out of the room.

* * *

As Duo slowly regained consciousness, he remembered where he was, and what had happened last night. He had meant to apologize to Heero about yesterday in the kitchen, not get in a fight with him. He yawned and opened his eyes. He was still lying on his side facing the wall. He snuggled into the blankets, enjoying the warmth. It wasn't too light in the room, which meant that it was still early; maybe around six or seven in the morning. Way too early for him. He groaned, knowing there was no way he was going to get back to sleep.

As he turned onto his other side he saw that Heero wasn't in the room. No surprise there. Heero was an early riser. Taking note of the fact that the laptop was also missing from the room, Duo thought, _He must be working on that little project of his already._

Duo looked at the blankets that covered his body. No wonder he was so warm. Heero's blanket was laid out on top of his own. Duo wondered when the other boy had done that. Suddenly he felt ashamed of the mean things he had been thinking about him the night before.

Deciding to take the plunge, Duo quickly got out of bed. The air was cold on his exposed skin and he quickly stripped Heero's blanket off his own and wrapped his own blanket around himself. He looked at the bed and decided he would come back in to make it up after he was dressed.

He quickly left Heero's room and entered his. He threw his blanket on the bed, not bothering to make it up. He quickly dressed, then undid his braid. Standing in front of the mirror he quickly brushed and re-braided it.

He felt impatient and grouchy.

Coffee.

He needed his coffee.

Before the thought of coffee completely took over his thoughts, he remembered he was going to make Heero's bed right after he dressed. Sighing, he hurried out of the room.

His reflection, however, didn't leave as quickly. It stared, with a dark expression on its face, in the direction Duo had exited. Slowly it walked in the direction of the door's reflection. Had the room had another occupant at the time, they would have heard the sound of a door opening, then closing.


	6. The roof

**Dead Ground**

**6**

**The Roof**

The warm, dry breeze blew Quatre's hair back away from his face. He turned, the crunching sound of the dirt and rocks under his shoes echoing loudly in his ears. When he looked far into the distance he could see the forest beyond the dead ground shimmering in the heat. The sight could have almost convinced him that the trees were, themselves, a mirage. He knew they were really there though.

Weren't they?

He put a hand to his head. It all felt so strange.

So wrong.

_Where AM I? _he thought.

He turned again and this time was punished with the sight of the cabin. The old building also shimmered in the heat. The cabin was no mirage though, that he knew. The cabin reeked of corruption and death; morbidly taunting him with its presence. He felt sick, and if he had anything in his stomach he would most likely vomit.

_I'm not really here..._ The thought flitted through his head unbidden, and left un-noticed.

As he stood, hypnotically gazing at the cabin, a figure seemed to materialize from the shimmering haze that seemed to surround the detested cabin. Quatre wanted to run, but there was nowhere to go. Of course, even if there were such a place, the Arabian was rooted to the spot, fear keeping him in place.

He realized, after watching the approaching figure, that it was Trowa. His heart brightened a little with hope. The fear wasn't as oppressive now that his friend was in sight. He was able to move again and he quickly started running toward the approaching boy.

When he reached Trowa, Quatre wrapped his arms around the tall boy and he buried his head into Trowa's shoulder. He wanted to cry with relief. He wasn't alone. Trowa wrapped his arms around the small boy and held him close.

"Trowa, I..." He wanted to tell him about everything. Trowa would believe him. _He would_, he thought, trying to convince himself. Trowa would protect him. They would escape this awful place together. He wouldn't be alone. There would be no need to be afraid.

He opened his mouth to start again, but stopped. His body stiffened reflexively as he felt one of Trowa's hands sliding down his back and began to knead his ass. The move was so sudden and unexpected. He pulled back and opened his mouth to speak, when he was cut off by an insistent kiss. The kiss was rough and he felt Trowa's hand pulling him roughly against him.

Quatre's mind had only a moment to register the hardness in Trowa's pants, before he was pushed roughly to the ground. He gasped as his back connected painfully with the rocks and dirt.

"Trowa... what...?" He couldn't think clearly enough to form the question.

Trowa had somehow gotten a hold of Quatre's wrists and was holding them with one hand over Quatre's head. His other hand was unbuttoning Quatre's pants. He cast a panicked, pleading look at him.

"Trowa...?" Quatre whimpered.

"Shut up!" Trowa snarled, yanking on Quatre's pants. "I'm tired of waiting! I want you to be mine, Quatre Winner!" Leaning in close, Trowa hissed fiercely, "And I want you _now_!"

Quatre's eyes widened, and he struggled, without success, to get away. After Trowa succeeded in removing Quatre's pants and underwear, he effortlessly flipped him onto his stomach, leaving Quatre's hands free. Quatre tried to scramble away on his hands and knees, when a foot connected painfully with his stomach. Quatre groaned and curled in a ball. He squeezed his eyes shut and grabbed at the dirt...

...but his fingers wrapped around the sheets of his bed instead. Opening his eyes, Quatre looked around, not knowing where he was for a moment. Then his eyes rested on the cup on the windowsill. It wasn't the cup from before. He realized Trowa must have followed Wufei's instructions.

_Trowa..._

That was when the dream hit him in full force. Grabbing his pillow, he pressed his face into it to muffle his cries of hurt. He felt so betrayed. _It was just a dream. Just a stupid dream! Trowa would never do that! He wouldn't_...

As hard as he tried, he couldn't seem to convince himself of anything. He just didn't know what to think anymore.

* * *

Duo headed down stairs after making Heero's bed. Glancing over at the boxes that were stacked by one of the walls, he noticed a box of light bulbs sitting on one of the boxes. Two bulbs had been removed. He walked over to the trash can and looked in. Sure enough, there were two more dead bulbs in the can. He smiled in amusement as he pictured Heero being told that more bulbs were burnt out.

He let that thought to entertain him as he walked into the kitchen to start up his coffee. When he walked in the kitchen and to the coffee maker, he noticed Trowa standing by the counter, holding a bowl in the crook of one arm and a mixing spoon in the other. Judging by the contents spread all over the kitchen, Trowa was in the process of making pancakes.

Suddenly, he smelled it.

Wrinkling his nose, he looked over to the stove and noticed a small pot. He was pretty sure it held more of the evil concoction Wufei had made up for Quatre yesterday. Duo looked over to Trowa, ready to comment on the horrible smell that filled the kitchen, but what he was about to say died on his lips. Trowa was still standing by the counter, and holding the bowl, but he wasn't doing anything. He was just standing there, staring straight ahead.

Duo set down the coffee pot that he had just picked up, and walked over to Trowa. Duo stared at his friend. The green eyed boy didn't even blink. Slowly, Duo raised his hand and waved it in front of Trowa's eyes.

Nothing happened.

Duo put his hand down and leaned against the counter, looking at him in confusion. He didn't want to startle him, but he didn't want Trowa to continue spacing out either. Duo wanted someone to talk to, and there wasn't anyone else around to claim that honor at the moment besides Trowa. Reaching out his hand, he poked Trowa with his finger.

"Yo. Trowa," he said hesitantly. No response. Feeling worried, but still trying to keep a light tone, he said, "Trooowa. Come on. Don't make me get annoying here." He poked Trowa a few more times to show him that he was serious about the threat.

For a few more moments, there was no response. Then the other boy blinked. Once. Twice. Then he blinked rapidly. Trowa's eyebrows knit together in confusion before shaking his head several times, as if trying to shake away an unwanted thought.

"Uh, you okay Trowa?"

Trowa turned his head to look at him. "Duo?"

Duo repeated his question. "Are you okay? You were totally out of it. You getting enough sleep?" The last said with a worried look.

Trowa set the bowl down and rubbed his eyes with the palms of his hands. "Yeah. I'm fine, I was just... well, thinking of something... someone... from before..." Shaking his head again, Trowa looked back to Duo. "It's really nothing important I suppose... I just..." Trowa looked past Duo with a far away look. After a moment he spoke again. "When I was a child I lived with some people... soldiers... I was thinking about them..." His eyes went to Duo's, and he could see the confusion in Trowa's eyes. "It wasn't a memory... but it seemed so... real..."

Trowa closed his eyes and, again, shook his head slowly from side to side. Duo, feeling more then a little uncomfortable at seeing the usually calm and collected boy so confused, put a hand on Trowa's shoulder and turned him around toward the bowl of pancake batter.

"Ya, know what you need, Trowa? You need a nice, hot cup of coffee." He grinned, hoping to put the other boy at ease. "And I'm just the one to do that for ya."

Leaving Trowa with the batter, Duo went back to the coffee pot. Being a person none too comfortable with silence, Duo began to complain about the toxic smell emanating from the small pot on the stove as he began to ready the coffee.

* * *

Heero walked around the cabin, his arms filled with the last of what he needed for his project. He walked past the bathroom window and Wufei's bedroom window idly looking into each one he passed. As he passed Quatre's window he almost stopped out of pure confusion. However, he decided that Quatre most likely wouldn't appreciate him doing that, so he continued on.

Still, he wondered why Quatre would use a milk bottle for that, when they had a perfectly good bathroom available. Heero mentally shrugged. What business was it of his? Besides, Quatre could be pretty picky about things. Most likely the rich boy didn't like how old and dingy the bathroom was. Hell, he didn't much like using the small room, but he wasn't about to go use a bush outside over it.

Setting the rest of his stuff down, he began the finishing touches on his idea. Although he had tried to seem confident with Trowa and Wufei, he felt anything but. He wasn't sure whether he would be able to receive any signals with his makeshift antenna or not. He looked upward. The edge of the shingles sat over his head. His gaze looked beyond the shingles to the sky. The day was overcast, and the air smelled like there would be rain soon—if not today, then tomorrow.

He returned his gaze to the project at hand, and quickly finished. Wrapping the cords in a coil, he laid them on the top of his closed laptop. At the end of the coil was a metal rod, which he laid on the coil. Picking up the bundle, he tucked it under one arm and walked to the ladder he had set up earlier. He had found the ladder lying down by the side of the house the first day. It was made of wood, and didn't look as stable as he would have wished for. He wouldn't complain though. At least he had a ladder.

He laid a hand on the ladder and paused. He had checked earlier to see if the ladder would hold his weight, and it did, but he still didn't have to like using the thing. Putting a foot on the first rung, he inwardly cringed as the ladder creaked. Taking a deep breath, he quickly scaled the ladder.

* * *

Quatre pushed the bottle to the back of the small closet. There was no way in hell he wanted to have to explain this to anyone. He knew it was irrational for him to be so afraid of the grungy little bathroom, but it didn't change the fact that he was. He had tried to convince himself that it was only a dream, but when he reached up with his hands and felt the scars on his arms he couldn't think of anything to convince himself otherwise.

He felt weak from the dream and from how much he had cried. _It was a dream_, he told himself. He had been trying to convince himself all morning, and it wasn't working. He didn't know how long he had spent sobbing into his pillow, but he knew it was quite a while. His eyes ached. They felt dried out, but when he closed his eyes he could almost see the images from his dream again.

_Trowa wouldn't do that..._ he thought, still feeling unconvinced. He walked back to his bed, careful to avoid the mirror as much as possible. He felt so much better with it covered, but he still hated it, still feared it. He sat on his bed and looked over at the window. The cup of tea was still there. He had decided not to drink anymore of Wufei's tea. For all he knew, Wufei had put something in it to make him sleep, and sleeping was the last thing he wanted to do.

His eyes wandered over to the dresser. Duo had brought him a plate with a pancake earlier. He had pretended to be asleep, so Duo put the pancake on the dresser, and left without bothering him. He didn't want to face the questions that would have undoubtedly come if Duo had seen his face.

He touched his cheek. It was still mildly warm from earlier. His hand moved to his lips. He had always wondered what it would be like to kiss Trowa, but now he just wanted to forget. He didn't want to think about it.

_Trowa would never do something like that! _he screamed to his unconvinced mind. He leaned his elbows on his knees and put his face in his hands. His fingers touched the blonde strands of his bangs and he grabbed a hold of the hair and pulled roughly. For a moment he forgot about the horrible dreams and the distrust that was creeping in on him, as he concentrated on the pain. He felt so confused and frightened.

Suddenly, his head jerked up as he felt the other presence, not in his room, but somewhere above his room. He looked at the ceiling with wide, terrified eyes. Panic started to fill his heart and he began to tremble.

_Something's going to happen... _he thought.

He brought his knees up to his chest as he began to whimper softly. He felt so helpless, so vulnerable. Wrapping his arms around his knees, he began to rock back and forth, wishing for all the world, that he could just go home.

* * *

The roof really wasn't much better then the ladder. It was badly decayed and the shingles were curling up at the ends. Gritting his teeth, Heero carefully made his way to a spot that looked good and sat. The roof wasn't too slanted, and with the shingles lifting up he was able to set his laptop down without it sliding off. He quickly set up the wire rod and connected the cable to his laptop. As he flipped open the slim machine and turned it on, he heard the roof creak.

Creaking was not a good thing at the moment, and he silently willed the laptop to hurry and boot up. As much as he didn't care for being on the roof, he wanted to find out if his idea had worked, or not before getting back down. The cord was long enough that, if it worked, he would be able to use his laptop from the ground.

When the laptop what ready, he punched in a few commands.

Nothing.

_Damn it, _he thought. He looked over at the rod. _Maybe if I just move it around or something..._

As he reached over to grab the rod, the roof not only creaked, it groaned. He stopped for a moment, trying to decide whether or not to continue. Finally, he settled on moving the rod around a few times, and if that didn't work, then he'd get down. Slowly, amid creaks and groans, he changed his position from a sitting one to a kneeling one. Slowly he reached over and grabbed the wire.

That was when the old roof decided it had endured enough.

He felt the roof lurch beneath him. His eyes widened and he instinctively grabbed onto the shingles. His laptop started to slide with the movement of the roof, and without thinking, Heero lunged for the laptop, grabbing the slim machine before it slid any further. He didn't have time to realize his mistake. Almost immediately there was a loud crack underneath him and the roof fell away.

And then, he was falling.


	7. Confusion

**Dead Ground**

**7**

**Confusion**

"Well, I think I'm gonna head out to the ol' truck and see what I can do," said Duo as he lifted the container of tools.

Trowa nodded. Any one of the pilots could have gone to fix the truck, but none of them had the passion for it that Duo did. Personally, Trowa was glad that it was Duo, and not him, that was going out to fix the truck. He wanted to stay here in case Quatre needed anything.

Duo opened the door and was about to step out when there was a loud crashing sound, and a thump above them. Both boys froze and looked up.

"What the hell was that?" Duo asked nervously. Stepping back in and letting the door shut behind him, Duo cast a nervous glance at Trowa. "Please tell me you heard that too."

Trowa's look mirrored Duo's troubled face and nodded.

Duo shook his head, and said, "I heard some stuff last night... Sounded like it was coming from the attic, but Heero said he didn't hear anything..." Duo was about to say more when he saw Trowa's eyes grow wide, and he looked up quickly.

"Shit. Heero!"

Duo started at the comment, remembering what Trowa and Wufei had told him yesterday about Heero's 'little project'. He looked up again, eyebrows knitting together in anxious concern, indecision pulling at him. Should he rush up there to help or should he do nothing. He wanted to show Heero how much he cared, even if the result was only a platonic friendship. Still Duo hesitated. Heero usually didn't much like people helping him, and would quite possibly get irritated at Duo for the attempt. Heero being annoyed with him definitely wouldn't help them become better friends.

Above them they heard the sound of scraping and clattering, then silence. More sounds, but this time the sound of one foot step, then another. Each one slow and heavy. Suddenly the front door burst open and Wufei came flying in.

"The roof..." was all he said between quick breaths. Trowa nodded. The three of them stood together, looking up. Suddenly there was the sound of hurried foot steps, a loud thud and a clattering.

More silence.

Duo, wanting to be closer if Heero needed help, was the first to climb the stairs, the first to situate himself under the attic hatch. He was soon joined by Trowa and Wufei. The three stood there, heads cocked, waiting.

The silence was broken above them.

"Iie."(1) It was soft. Almost pleading. "Boku kara hanareteiru."(2)

The three boys looked at each other. Who was Heero talking to, and why did he sound so strange?

Abruptly there was a shout of, "Boku kara hanareteiru yo!(3)," then the sound of scraping, followed by the clicking sound of an unloaded gun. This was followed by a moment of silence. The sound of something hard hitting, a wall maybe, sounded loud in the otherwise silent cabin.

Duo decided he would risk any irritation from Heero, and called out, "Heero?"

The shuffling stopped for a moment, then started up again until the source of the sound was directly over their heads.

Silence.

Then a soft, "Duo?"

"Heero, are you okay?"

"Duo??" This time louder and a bit frantic.

A pause.

"Duo. Doa o akete.(4)" Heero's voice sounded shaky and frightened. Then came a couple of bangs on the hatch.

"Heero, I don't speak Japanese you know that." After a moment, the banging started again. This time it was harder, and more desperate.

"Duo! Akete yo!" Heero's voice was getting higher in pitch. Then the banging stopped. More scuffling. Then came the thuds as Heero, they all assumed, started jumping on the hatch. The door to the hatch moved slightly under the weight of the other boy, but not by much.

"Duo!!" Heero screamed in panic. "Onegai!!(5) Doa o akete yo!!

The boys looked at each other with frightened looks on their faces. Since when, did Heero panic?

"Duo!" came a scream from behind the boys and down the stairs. All three turned around, and looked down, to see Quatre, pale as a ghost, standing in the living room. "Help him open the fucking door!! Damn you!! Help him!!"

The three stared for a moment at Quatre in surprise, then all of a sudden the words hit home and Duo looked up at the hatch then to Wufei.

"Wufei. Give me a boost."

Wufei nodded, bent low and threaded his fingers together. Duo put one foot in the makeshift stirrup and launched himself up to grab the handle to the hatch with both hands. Duo could feel Heero's weight as the Japanese boy jumped again and again on the hatch.

Suddenly the jumping stopped and Heero screamed, "Iie! Attchi e itte, hitori nishite chyoodai yo!!(6)".

Hanging from the hatch handle, Duo yelled, "Heero, keep jumping!" Duo looked down to the other two.

"Maxwell, are you sure you can hold on?" said Wufei.

"Yes! Just do it, and hurry." It took only a moment, but the jumping started again, this time more frantic then ever.

Trowa and Wufei each grabbed onto one of Duo's legs and the next time Heero jumped down on the hatch, the two boys held tightly to Duo's legs and lifted their own legs, letting Duo, and ultimately the hatch, take the weight of them all.

The hatch inched down.

The second time they did this the hatch dropped down, and Trowa and Wufei let go instantly and fell to the floor, small splinters of wood from the hatch raining down on them. Duo's body was flung to the wall, and Heero dropped down in between Trowa and Wufei. Duo let go of the handle and slid to the floor.

"Doa o shimete yo!(7)" Heero screamed in terror. Not understanding the words, but understanding the meaning behind what Heero was trying to say, Trowa stood quickly and slammed the hatch back up. It didn't quite shut firmly, but since the hatch stayed up, he didn't care. If whatever it was that had scared his fellow pilot was coming down, they'd deal with it then.

Trowa looked down to see Wufei shaking Heero by the shoulders. The other boy was looking up, shaking his head, and babbling in his native tongue. Tears were running down his face and his whole body was shaking. Wufei lifted his hand back, preparing to smack some sense into the babbling boy. Just as his hand began its downward swing, Duo lunged forward, grabbed it and yelled, "You bastard! Don't you fucking dare!" and pushed Wufei out of the way.

Duo moved closer to the shaking boy and laid his hands on each side of Heero's face. Gently, Duo forced Heero to look at him. Duo was shocked by the terror he saw flooding the cobalt-blue eyes.

"Shh..." he whispered. "It's all right now. Everything is all right now."

Duo eyed Heero for any injuries, and what he saw made his eyes widened. On one side, Heero had deep gouges on his arm and upper leg. The deep cuts were bleeding freely enough to have soaked the side Heero's shirt and jeans.

"Wufei!" Duo shouted. "Get the medical supplies!" Wufei didn't move. His eyes were wide, staring at Heero in alarm. Duo turned his head and shouted at the Chinese boy. "_Now_ damn it!" Wufei jumped, startled by Duo's sudden eruption, and quickly got up and rushed down the stairs.

Duo, turning his attention back to the other boy, took mental note of Heero's other symptoms: Anxiety. Confusion. Clammy skin. Profuse sweating. Shallow breathing...

"Wufei! He's going into major shock here! I need something for elevation!" Duo yelled. Duo slid his hands behind Heero, careful not to touch any of Heero's wounds, and guided him into a laying position. Heero closed his eyes tightly and whimpered softly. Duo eyed Heero with concern, not knowing if the whimpering was from fright or pain.

"It's alright Heero," he whispered. "It's alright."

"Trowa. I need you to..." Duo looked up and stopped what he was saying.

Trowa was gone.

* * *

Trowa looked away from the other boys, and turned his attention Quatre, who's eyes were fixed on Heero and Duo. Trowa watched as several emotions seemed to play out on the small boy's face.

Fear.

Shame.

Confusion.

Jealousy.

Hatred.

Trowa walked way from the other three boys and headed down the stairs. Quatre's head whipped around and watched Trowa with wide eyes for a moment, before taking off at a dead run for his room. Trowa, halfway down the steps, vaulted the railing and took off after him. He got to the room just as Quatre was trying to slam the door shut. Trowa pushed on the door. Being the larger and stronger of the two, it gave a few inches and he slipped in the room. Without Trowa's resistance, the door slammed shut, causing Quatre to stumble a little.

Trowa grabbed Quatre to steady him, but he shrugged off Trowa's gesture, and backed away.

"Quatre, what's wrong?"

"Nothing!" he said forcefully. "I don't know anything!"

Trowa frowned in confusion. "Quatre, that isn't what I asked."

Quatre's face contorted into a look of panic, then pain. "I'm... fine," he forced out.

Trowa folded his arms and looked down sternly. "You don't _look_ fine. You certainly aren't _acting _fine."

"What is it to you?" Quatre shouted.

* * *

Wufei ran down the stairs and started digging though the boxes. He felt so shaken. _Damn Maxwell!_ He _had _wanted to hit Yuy—wanted to hit him hard. Wanted to bring back the cool, unemotional boy, and pretend like this was all just a horrible dream. He could feel his hands shaking as he continued digging though the box, and cursed himself for being so weak.

_What the hell is going on! _he thought as he slammed aside the box he had been digging through and started on a different box.

* * *

Trowa's eyes widened and a pained look crossed his face. This wasn't like Quatre at all. He was usually so gentle and kind. Trowa unfolded his arms and reached out to him. Quatre tried to pull away, but he was too weak from the lack of sleep and food. Trowa stepped forward as he pulled Quatre to him.

"What is it to me?" he whispered painfully. "We're _friends _Quatre. _That's_ what it is to me. I _care_. Is that so wrong?"

Quatre dropped his head and looked at the ground. Trowa could feel the other boy trembling beneath his grip. Slowly he brought his other hand up and laid it on Quatre's shoulder.

"Quatre?" Trowa whispered.

* * *

Duo knelt over Heero, and laid a hand on the frightened boy's chest. He lifted his other hand and stroked Heero's sweat dampened hair back away from his face. Heero had stopped babbling and now lay there, staring with wide eyes at the hatch above him. Duo didn't know how smart it was to leave Heero there, under the hatch that seemed to frighten him so much, or on the cold wooden floor, but he wouldn't move the boy until they had bandaged up his wounds. The gouges were deep and they were already bleeding enough to warrant concern. He had thought about using his own shirt to stop the bleeding, but he knew how dirty it was and didn't want to risk infecting the wounds.

Duo reached down and wiped away the tears on Heero's cheeks. Heero may have stopped babbling, but he hadn't stopped crying. And he hadn't lost that look of fear in his eyes. Duo's heart ached when he looked at the other boy, but he didn't know what he should do. Seeing Heero this way seemed so incomprehensible. The situation was completely unreal to him. He felt afraid, and all he wanted to do was curl up beside Heero and have everything be alright again.

He heard a creak above him and he looked up. The hatch had inched down. Suddenly he felt a grip on his arm and he looked down. Heero's eyes had widened and he was gripping Duo's arm like a vice.

_Hurry the fuck up, Wufei! _he cursed silently.

* * *

A small sob erupted from Quatre. Trowa hesitated before sliding his arms around him, and pulling him close. He'd wanted to hold the other boy in his arms for so long, but had never dared make any move to indicate such feelings, not wanting to risk rejection. He was ashamed of the part of him that was glad Quatre was suffering, so that he could have the boy in his arms...

"Why?" Quatre suddenly cried softly.

"Why what?" Trowa whispered.

"Why are you doing this to me? Why won't you just leave me alone?" he said between sobs.

_Because I care about you. And I want you to be mine Quatre Winner! _Trowa thought desperately and fiercely.

* * *

_Yes!!_ Wufei thought triumphantly, as his fingers touched the cool metal of the medical supply box. He reached in with both hands and pulled it out of the larger box. It was heavy, but he could carry it with one hand without any problems. He looked around, trying to locate where Duo had put the short stool.

_Shit! _he cursed silently as he realized Duo had most likely used it to sit on when he had been trying to fix the water heater. He set the metal box down and sprinted through the cabin. Flinging open the door that led to the basement, he slammed his hand against the switch to turn on the basement light.

Nothing.

_Fuck! Not now! _He stood there for a few moments considering. He could go back and take the medical kit up to Duo, then return down stairs to rummage through the boxes more to find a flash light or he could just feel his way down to the basement and try to locate the stool in the dark. After several moments of indecision, he decided it would, most likely, be faster to just try his luck with the small dark basement, and he started down the stairs.

* * *

Quatre stiffened, and Trowa knew instantly that he had made a mistake. Quatre may not have known the exact words that had gone through Trowa's head, but his feelings were so strong that Quatre would have had no problem feeling the emotions behind the thoughts.

"Quatre... I..."

Quatre pulled away, and Trowa let him go. Quatre started shaking his head.

"Quatre. Please. I..."

"Stop," said Quatre softly. "Just stop."

"Stop what?" Trowa asked painfully.

"Stop..._ LYING to me!!_" Quatre screamed, balling his fists and squeezing his eyes shut.

Trowa's eyes widened in shock. "Quatre... I didn't say... I... I'm not... You know I wouldn't... You would know if I... I..."

Quatre wrapped his arms around himself, hands going to where his T-shirt sleeves were covering his upper arms. He squeezed his arms tightly with his hands. His whole body trembling with sobs.

"Quatre..." Trowa whispered, stretching out his hand.

"_Get out!!_" he screamed hysterically. "_Get out and leave me ALONE!!"_

Trowa's wide eyes widened, and he felt an indescribable pain as he stumbled backwards, blindly groping for the bronze doorknob. His hands found it and he twisted the knob roughly and flung himself out of the room.

* * *

Heero flinched at the sound of a door slamming downstairs. Duo winced as Heero tightened his grip on Duo's arm. Heero flicked his gaze to the railing then to Duo, his eyes pleading and afraid. Duo softly caressed the side of Heero's face.

"It's okay," Duo whispered gently. Turning his head toward the living room he yelled...

* * *

"Wufei! Where the _hell _is that med kit?!"

Trowa, his back to the now closed door, looked up, then over to the medical kit sitting in the middle of the floor. He looked around the room, Wufei was no where to be seen. Deciding _someone_ should get the kit up to Duo, he walked quickly over to the medical kit, picked it up and started up the stairs.

* * *

Wufei groped around, on hands and knees, in the dark basement. The room had a cool damp feeling to it and a strong moldy odor. Not finding the stool right away, Wufei began to feel irritated. He knew the basement wasn't large. In fact, it was a very small room, barely big enough for a few people to stand in and be comfortable. In the dark though, it _seemed_ as if the basement were huge. Suddenly his fingers touched something that felt like...

His eyes widened and he opened his mouth...

* * *

Duo heard the footsteps behind him and said, "It's about time Wu..." but stopped when he saw who it was.

Trowa set the medical kit down beside Duo.

"Where's Wufei?" Duo said with a confused look on his face. Trowa started to shrug when they heard the scream.

1. Iie - no

* * *

2. Boku kara hanareteiru – stay away from me.

3. Boku kara hanareteiru yo - stay away from me!! (The yo added on is a verbal exclamation mark.)

4. Doa o akete – open the door.

5. Onegai – please

6. Iie! Attchi e itte, hitori nishite chyoodai yo! - No! Go away, and leave me alone!

7. Doa o shimete yo – shut the door !


	8. The basement

**Dead Ground**

**8**

**The Basement**

Trowa sped halfway down the stairs, and once again vaulted the railing. Instead of making his way around the end tables and couch, Trowa jumped effortlessly onto the first end table, then onto the back of the old couch. It creaked under his weight as he ran swiftly across the narrow backing, before jumping off and heading through the kitchen to the door that led to the basement. As he stopped running he grabbed for the semi-open basement door to stop himself from sliding on the kitchen floor.

"Wufei!" he shouted as he looked down the stairs. At this angle he wasn't able to see the small room that passed for the basement. He listened for a moment. He could hear something that resembled whispers, but couldn't make out any words. He quickly made his way down the stairs. Upon finding himself in the small room, he looked over and found Wufei crouched against one of the walls, eyes wide and staring forward. He had his hands, which were both clenched into fists, to his mouth and he was murmuring softly in Chinese as he shook his head.

Trowa took a few steps toward the crouching boy and stopped as Wufei stopped shaking his head and looked fearfully toward Trowa. He took another step, and Wufei scooted away from him.

"Wufei?" Trowa said hesitantly.

"Trowa?" Wufei whispered. His eyes seemed to be searching, but they never seemed to lock on the tall boy. He started to un-ball one of his fists and reach out his hand when he stopped and quickly returned his hand where it was, fist clenched. A tear from each eye ran down his cheeks as Wufei squeezed his eyes closed.

Trowa closed the distance between them, then laid a hand on Wufei's shoulder. The moment Trowa's hand made contact with him, Wufei's eyes popped open and he started screaming. Trowa moved his other hand to cover the other boy's mouth and he said quickly, "Wufei, it's me, Trowa. Calm down.

When Wufei heard this he stopped screaming and grabbed Trowa's hands, examining them with his own, as if to make sure Trowa was telling the truth. Wufei brought his eyes up, looking past Trowa. He was about to turn his head to see what the other boy was looking at when Wufei said, "Trowa, get me out of here..."

Trowa's look changed from concerned to confused. He looked back at the stairs that were only a few paces away, then back to Wufei.

"Why do you need me to help you out of the basement?"

Wufei's grip tightened on Trowa. "Because, I can't find my way out. Please. It's too dark. I can't find the way and I'm afraid that I'll find _her _again!" He reached up and grabbed Trowa's shoulders, pulling him closer. "I _swear_ it was her," he babbled in whispered tones. "I felt her. I swear. She was there. Exactly the way she was last time. I swear. You must believe me." Wufei's grip tightened on Trowa and his voice began to rise. "But, Trowa... _she's DEAD! _It's _impossible _I tell you. She _can't _be here!"

Trowa grabbed Wufei by his shoulders and shook him slightly. "Wufei! Calm down. What do you mean it's too dark?" Trowa shook his head as if to clear his mind. "Wufei, who are you talking about? Who is 'she'?"

Wufei just stared for a moment then said in confusion, "The light bulb... It's dark because it's burned out..." Trowa's eyebrows knit together, and he turned his head to look at the bulb hanging from the ceiling.

It was on.

He turned back to Wufei and waved one of his hands over the other boy's eyes.

No reaction.

No dilating of the pupils as his hand cast a shadow over Wufei's eyes.

Nothing.

His hand moved back to rest on Wufei's shoulder and he looked around the small room. His eyes went from the fuse box on the wall, to the stool near the water heater, to the old appliance itself. Then his eyes fell to a small puddle of liquid on the floor. The faucet sticking out of the rusty metal was dripping on to the floor, each drop making a soft noise as it hit the puddle.

Drip.

Drip.

His muscles tensed as he saw foot prints appear near the puddle, as if someone had just stepped in the puddle and the unseen walker was just now leaving the confines of the wetness to walk along near the wall. The foot prints were small and petite, obviously belonging to a young girl. His eyes narrowed as he inspected the foot prints with greater scrutiny. His head quickly reared back as he realized, with a feeling of dread; the foot prints weren't water.

They were blood.

_Wufei... what the fucking hell is going on here? _his mind screamed. He opened his mouth to voice the question, but his vocal cords refused to cooperate. The only sound he was able to make was a small squeaking noise.

He felt bile rise in his throat as he watched the bloody footprints appearing one right after the other. The foot prints came to a corner and turned to walk beside the next wall. Trowa felt panic rise in his chest. He tightened his grip on Wufei and pulled the confused pilot toward the stairs. As he reached the stairs he looked back and saw that whatever was making the foot prints had quickened its steps and was almost upon them.

Finding his voice, he shouted at Wufei to go, and pushed him onto the first step. Realizing where he was, Wufei needed no prodding and quickly sprinted up the stairs. Trowa immediately followed, and as he reached the top of the stairs he turned to close the door, but faltered for a moment in confusion.

There was no light coming from the basement.

He looked quickly to the switch on the wall.

It was on.

His attention was drawn back to why he'd been in such a hurry when he heard the sound of quick footsteps coming toward him from the basement. In a panic, he slammed the door shut. Finding there was no way to lock the door, grabbed a nearby chair and shoved it under the door knob.

* * *

Duo sat on the floor, back against the wall, facing Heero's bed. For now, he was asleep, and for that Duo was grateful. The past couple of hours seemed like days. He tried hard not to think of all that had happened but his traitorous mind wouldn't allow that to happen . . .

. . .After Trowa left the medical kit with him to go see to Wufei, Duo rummaged through the metal container and removed what he needed. He also found a bottle of white tablets that was marked 'Hydrocodone'(1). He hadn't known exactly what that was, but he figured it was probably just some weird kind of aspirin. He made Heero take two tablets before he started the cleaning and sewing of the wounds.

Heero had fallen asleep soon after taking the medication, which made Duo's job much easier. Duo didn't like the idea of hurting Heero, and he was glad that the other boy wouldn't be feeling the 'stitching up' process.

Duo was also glad Heero was asleep when he had to take off Heero's jeans. He didn't want to explain to the other boy why he was blushing so much. Duo had dreamed about taking off Heero's pants before, but this wasn't exactly the kind of situation he had imagined. Duo had gotten through it well enough though. This had only been possible given the strange circumstances. Any other time he would have been raging hard just thinking about undressing his fellow pilot, but what Duo had been concerned about the most at the moment was taking care of his friend. Duo had been grateful his body seemed to understand this.

He barely finished when a muffled shout came from below him, the sound of the basement door slamming not far behind. Duo almost called to them, but caught himself. He didn't want to chance waking Heero. He stood, then paused. Duo didn't want to leave Heero alone, but of course, he wanted to see what was going on downstairs too. His natural curiosity won out in the end, and, Duo reasoned with himself, Heero was asleep, so no worries there.

As he entered the kitchen, he was surprised to see both Trowa and Wufei sitting on the kitchen floor. Wufei, back against one of the cupboards, had his knees up and his face lowered so that Duo was unable to see it. Trowa sat with his back to the wall next to the basement door. His legs were outstretched and he was staring straight ahead with a blank expression on his face. Duo's eyes shifted to the basement door, and he was surprised to see a chair positioned underneath the doorknob.

He cleared his throat loudly, but neither of the other two glanced at him. Being closer to Trowa, he approached him first. Kneeling down, Duo touched Trowa on the shoulder. When Trowa didn't respond, Duo whispered softly, his voice heavy with worry, "Trowa?"

Trowa looked at him with a look that Duo was unable to read. "Trowa, are you alright?" He looked away from Duo and stared at Wufei, before giving a slight nod. After confirming that Trowa was indeed alright, he moved to Wufei. Kneeling on the kitchen floor, Duo gently touched the other pilot on the shoulder.

"Wufei?" he whispered gently. This wasn't like Wufei at all. What had happened? Wufei refused to look at him, or even acknowledge his presence. Trowa, standing by that time, leaned in close and whispered in Duo's ear, "Let's give him a few minutes to himself. You know... let him save face."

Duo nodded and stood.

As they left the kitchen, Duo asked Trowa about what had happened, but he refused to give any answers to his questions, so Duo gave it up. If Trowa didn't want to say, no amount of pestering on his part would get him to open up. Besides, he wasn't sure if he really wanted to know anyway. They had gone upstairs together and moved the sleeping Heero onto his bed.

Duo had stayed to get Heero situated while Trowa left to retrieve the medical kit and bring it into the bedroom. Duo carefully pulled the blankets over Heero and gently tucked him in. As he smoothed the blankets he could feel Heero's body beneath the blankets. Duo slid his hands over the other boy's blanket covered shoulders until his fingers touched the smooth skin of the Japanese boy's neck. He stopped for a moment and let his eyes consume the sight of him.

Heero looked so peaceful. Duo felt so terribly sad as he remembered the fear that had been in the other boy's eyes. The terror that had reduced the usually stoic boy to a frightened child.

_What happened Heero? Please, just tell me what the hell is going on_, Duo begged silently.

Duo let his hands continue their journey. Heero's skin was softer than Duo had imagined. He seemed so fragile and delicate. All Duo wanted to do was wrap his arms around the other boy and hold him.

Duo heard Trowa enter the room and the clunking sound of the metal box meeting the wooden floor. He quickly took his hands away from Heero's face and made a gesture of giving the blanket a final pull.

Turning around, Duo opened his mouth to speak when he saw the look on Trowa's face. Trowa's eyes were narrowed into an angry glare. Duo shut his mouth and waited silently, not sure what was going on. As Trowa walked quickly toward the bed, Duo cast his thoughts around quickly, trying to decide what could possibly be wrong. Trowa stopped in front of Duo and looked deep into his eyes, and when he couldn't hold the angry gaze any longer, Duo looked away.

"Move," said Trowa, his voice seeping with suppressed anger.

Duo swallowed and moved out of Trowa's way. He watched as Trowa bent down and examined Heero. When the tall boy was done he straightened and looked back at Duo.

"Trowa...?" Duo began weakly.

Trowa lifted his hand and revealed a bottle. "Do you know what is in here... Maxwell?"

Duo flinched at Trowa's words. The brunette's tone was soft and venomous. Duo opened his mouth and said shakily, "A... a... aspirin?"

Trowa closed his eyes and pressed his lips together. An exasperated sigh met Duo's ears. Trowa shook his head and opened his eyes again. "You really are a fucking idiot aren't you? Didn't you read what was written on the bottle? These are heavy duty pain killers, and they're not low dose either, you fucking shit!" Trowa's voice never left the soft pitch, and to Duo that was worse then being shouted at. "How many did you give him, Maxwell?!"

"Trowa... I..."

"Just answer the fucking question."

"Two. Just two..."

Trowa shook his head. "Since you are such a moron I won't bother explaining what these are, because you won't understand anyway." Trowa set the bottle near the bed. "However, I'm going to leave these here and you will give him only one at a time. Do you understand, or do you need me to leave written instructions?"

Duo felt himself getting angry. He hadn't known what kind of medication was in the bottle. So fucking what? He had made worse mistakes and was never treated like this. He watched as Trowa made his way to the door. Deciding he didn't have to take this shit from the other boy he said, "Trowa." He stopped, hand on the door nob, but didn't turn around. "What the hell is your problem? I don't have to deal with your damn..." He would have continued but the quiet words from Trowa stopped him from speaking any further.

"You love him don't you?"

Duo's throat tightened and he felt a sinking feeling in his gut, as he realized Trowa must have seen how he had been with Heero. He hadn't moved away fast enough. Duo kept quiet and watched as Trowa turned around to face him.

"Pathetic." Duo felt a chill at the contempt in Trowa's voice. "Of course, I wouldn't expect anything less from someone like you." Trowa eyed Duo up and down and he suddenly felt the urge to hide. He wanted to get away from Trowa and his poisonously quiet words.

"How disgusting. Heero will never return your feelings, you know. You are nothing to him." He turned his back to Duo. "It is a truly pitiful creature that continues to pine after what he cannot have." Trowa was almost out the door when Duo heard, "But of course, I expect nothing less from you." . . .

. . . Duo stretched out his legs. He'd been sitting on the floor since Trowa left. He felt so perplexed and hurt. What had he done to deserve such cutting remarks from the normally quiet and caring pilot? He crossed his legs, positioned his elbows on his knees and rested his forehead in the palms of his hands. His lower lip trembled as he tried hard not to cry.

_What the hell does he know anyway!_ Duo thought defensively, but still he couldn't help feeling dirty and ashamed.

He looked up a little so that he could see Heero's sleeping form. He hadn't gone near him since Trowa's departure. Maybe Trowa wouldn't tell Heero if he stayed away, he reasoned with himself. Besides, he didn't ever want to hear Heero say what Trowa had. The thought of having Heero look at him the way Trowa had was just too much to bear.

Duo frowned and thought, _But who will comfort Heero when he wakes up? Will Heero even need comfort? Maybe he'll be fine when he wakes. _Duo didn't think things would be that easy though, if what he had seen earlier was any indication.

He looked away from Heero and stared at the grungy window. Heero wasn't the only one who had changed so dramatically in the past few days. Trowa, usually so calm and caring, had shown what a bastard he could be. Quatre, always so sweet and sociable, now kept to himself and would hardly speak to anyone. Wufei, normally so loudly conceited, now so depressingly quiet and unresponsive.

A tear escaped one of his eyes, and he wiped it away quickly. Everything was changing so fast and he couldn't seem to keep up. Lightning flashed outside the dirt streaked window, and he flinched. He didn't like the idea of being in the cabin, at night while there was a storm.

He stood up and walked toward the window. It was only mid-afternoon at the moment, but the fear of the night to come already weighed heavily on his mind.

* * *

Wufei sprinted away from the cabin. He didn't want to be in the hateful building one moment longer. As he ran he could feel the cool air from the oncoming storm rushing against his face. The trees in the distance bobbed in his sight and the sound of the rocks under his shoes crunched loudly, breaking the otherwise complete silence of the area.

As he neared the old truck he slowed his pace. When he was within ten paces of the truck he stopped all together. The truck had been old when they had left it, but the rusted hunk of metal that he saw now looked as if it had been there for fifty years. The tires were flat, and the paint looked as if it had been sand blasted and was nearly gone.

He approached the vehicle and pulled on the door handle. The door, not use to being handled, didn't open easily. Wufei forced the door open and the joints of the door screeched loudly. He examined the inside of the cab. It was covered in sand and the fabric covering the seats looked like it would turn to dust if touched.

His hopes of fixing the truck and leaving were crumbling. He looked at the forest beyond the truck, and blanched. The forest, instead of looking vibrant and alive, looked grotesque and unhealthy. He took a step back, trying to move away from the nauseating sight before him, and his back connected painfully with the open door of the truck.

The branches looked weighed down and the leaves seemed to be dripping with corruption. He turned away from the sight, an ill feeling sweeping over him.

* * *

Trowa lay on the couch he had been sleeping on since they had arrived at the cabin. He had calmed since his cold verbal assault on Duo, and all he could feel was a hollow emptiness in his chest. Duo hadn't deserved what Trowa had said. He knew the cruel words were actually meant for himself. Every word applied to him. Duo had really done nothing to merit the heartless words Trowa had so inhumanly cast at him. Even the mix up with the medication hadn't really been that big of a deal... not really...

He had been angry at Duo, because deep in his heart, Trowa was jealous that Heero just might return Duo's feelings. Duo just might have what he, himself, had been so harshly denied. Trowa let out a long breath. He felt guilty and ashamed of his behavior, and he knew he should apologize. It wasn't Duo's fault that he had been rejected so cruelly by Quatre.

He felt a stab of pain in his heart as he thought of Quatre. He'd acted as if Trowa had done something to hurt him. Trowa felt so confused. Hadn't he done all he could think of to help Quatre and show that he cared?

He rubbed his eyes, then ran his fingers through his hair.

Being apart of... whatever... in the basement, having seen what he saw or what he thought he saw, didn't help his already torn emotions. He covered his face with his hands. _What the HELL happened down there?! _His mind refused to make sense of an event that was so unreal. He couldn't forget the horrified look on Wufei's face, or how Wufei had kept rambling about "she".

_Who the hell is "she"?_

He shook his head and got off the couch. He really should check on Wufei. Trowa didn't even know if he was still in the kitchen or not. He'd been so angry when he came downstairs that he didn't even think of the other pilot. As he walked to the kitchen, he made up his mind to swallow his pride, and the pain he felt over Quatre, and apologize to Duo.

* * *

Stumbling away from the decaying forest, Wufei left the corpse-like truck and made his way back toward the cabin. He stopped and fell to his knees. He felt trapped. Fleeing through the gruesome forest was an undesirable idea, and there was no escape waiting for him at the cabin. He didn't want to be in a place where he heard her voice and felt her body in the darkness.

Feeling angry and frustrated with his helplessness, Wufei slammed his fist into the ground. He grimaced slightly when he made contact with one of the larger, sharper rocks and cut his hand. He looked at the gash which ran along the side of his hand. It was bleeding freely and the thick red liquid began dripping off his hand and onto the dry ground.

He felt morbidly fascinated, watching his life drip steadily into the dirt, each drop making little round patterns below him. It seemed as if his anger and frustration were ebbing from him with each drop, leaving only an empty feeling inside. He welcomed the empty feeling. It was better then feeling all the confused jumble of emotions that were ravenously consuming him, and bringing him to the brink of madness.

He stayed that way for quite some time until a shadow loomed over him.

* * *

Trowa walked into the kitchen.

No Wufei.

Figuring Wufei was most likely in his room, Trowa left the kitchen. He stopped for a moment when passing Quatre's room, and stared at the door. He wanted to talk to him. Find out what was wrong, but he couldn't make himself do it. He didn't have the courage to face the other boy at the moment, so he continued silently to Wufei's room. The door was shut, so Trowa knocked softly on the door.

No answer.

He knocked again.

Nothing.

Sighing, Trowa tried to decide if he should let himself in or not. Wufei wasn't the type to put up with his privacy being invaded without his consent. Finally, Trowa decided to go in.

After all, Wufei had been in a pretty bad state the last time he saw him. Trowa opened the door and walked in the room. He reached over and flicked on the light switch.

Nothing.

Trowa sighed and looked around. The bedroom was quite dark due to the lack of sun from the approaching storm and from the fact that Wufei's window was almost completely covered with grime. When they had first arrived at the cabin, the boys had tried to clean the windows with no success.

The light from the living room revealed the lean Chinese boy standing near the window. Trowa moved to stand next to Wufei and studied him with concern. He stood facing the dirt stained window, eyes unfocused and staring...

* * *

Wufei, feeling numb inside, stood. The shadow had been that of a person, but from the time it took to stand, he seemed to have forgotten the shape of the shadow and who it could have been. He knew he should feel something, fear or dread perhaps, but he didn't. He felt nothing; just like he had when he was staring at the blood drip from his hand.

"Wufei," a voice said behind him. He didn't concentrate on the sound of the voice. He was afraid it would be her voice, so he tried to tune it out.

He began to walk away, not caring about who or what might be behind him. His mind felt fuzzy and his body seemed to suddenly think it needed sleep. After a few steps he felt a hand on his shoulder, shaking him gently.

"Wufei!" The voice sounded urgent and concerned, but he continued walking, his body on autopilot.

A moment later he felt two hands grab him and turn him around. As he was turned the world seemed to spin and colors seemed to meld together. The world around him darkened and his gaze finally rested on two concerned green eyes.

* * *

Trowa stood holding onto Wufei's shoulders, and looking into his eyes. A shiver ran through him. Wufei's eyes seemed unfocused and almost dead in appearance. He shook Wufei again, this time harder than before, fear guiding his strength. Wufei blinked slowly and lazily moved his eyes over Trowa's face.

"Wufei?!" Trowa asked worriedly.

Wufei moved his head slowly and looked around the room. "How did I get here?"

This statement did nothing to ease Trowa's worry. Wufei's tone was slurred and he seemed completely out of it. Trowa reached down and grabbed both of Wufei's hands to guide him to the bed. When Trowa got Wufei lying down, he noticed a large scar on one of Wufei's hands. He moved closer to get a better look.

"Wufei... where did you get this?" he whispered, mostly to himself.

Of course, Wufei didn't answer and Trowa was left wondering about an old looking scar that was obviously not there only a few hours before.

* * *

1 - Hydrocodone is in a class of drugs called narcotic analgesics. Basically it relives pain. Hydrocodone has an analgesic potency similar to or greater than that of oral Morphine. I just wanted to add that in because Morphine is usually more well known then Hydrocodone, so hopefully that will give you an idea of the strength of the medication, and also what type of medication it is.


	9. The soldier

**Dead Ground**

**9**

**The Soldier**

Duo was still standing near the window, forehead pressed against the glass, when Heero began to moan. Duo turned his head slightly and peered over at him. Duo's mouth turned down into a concerned frown. He wanted to go comfort Heero, but...

Heero's breathing became heavier and a tear slid out from under one of his eyelids. Duo closed his own eyes in frustration. He didn't know what he should do. Should he play it safe and do nothing, or should he risk everything and try to help?

_Trowa you fucking bastard! _Duo thought.

It was the soft whimpers that were the deciding factor for Duo. He felt too much like he was abandoning Heero in his time of need. Peeling his forehead away from the window, he made his way to the side of the bed. Duo stood there for a moment and watched him thoughtfully. Heero looked so small and frail, and Duo felt a wave of nauseating fear hit him. He really didn't want to know what was in the attic, not if it did _this _to Heero. Duo knew it was only a matter of time before they would need to go up there, and he didn't look forward to that at all.

Bringing his hand up to his chest, Duo could feel the cross he always wore beneath his shirt. He closed his eyes and silently asked for help with holding the fear at bay. Suddenly a peal of thunder sounded loud and ominous outside—making the windows shake a little. Duo cracked an eye open. _Gee... thanks... that really helps... _he thought sarcastically.

Sighing deeply, he sat on the bed next to Heero and whispered, "Shhhh." He hesitated momentarily before reaching out a shaking hand and smoothing back Heero's hair. The dark strands were damp with sweat, and grainy with dirt, making Duo wondered briefly what Heero's hair would feel like clean and dry.

Suddenly Heero's eyes fluttered open Duo froze. The two boys looked at each other, and Duo waited for the harsh words that were sure to come.

They never came.

Duo swallowed nervously and removed his hand from Heero's head, and when he did so, Heero moved his eyes away from Duo.

"Uh, Heero... you, ah... feeling any better?" Duo felt uncomfortable. He shifted and hastily said, "You were moaning and stuff so, ah, I was just trying to help. Don't be mad or anything okay?" The last came almost as a plea.

At Duo's hasty explanation, Heero swallowed and his eyebrows scrunched together. Duo didn't know what he'd done wrong, or what to do next. He wasn't used to seeing Heero wear his emotions like a shirt and it was incredibly disconcerting.

Deciding he had upset Heero, Duo began to stand. "Well, you probably want to be alone so you can get some more sleep, so I'll just—" He was cut off by Heero grabbing Duo's pant leg with a shaking hand.

"No! Please... don't leave me alone..." Heero's eyes were watery and had a pleading look in them. Confusion welled up inside of Duo and he moved his eyes away from Heero's cobalt-blue eyes. The grip on his pants loosened. When he looked back to Heero, his gaze was turned away.

Heero's grip continued to loosen until his hand let go of the fabric completely and the hand flopped onto the bed. "Go ahead and go, Duo. I... I understand. I wouldn't want to stay with me either."

Duo's eyes widened at Heero's whispered statement. Heero pulled his arms under the covers and pulled the blankets over his head. Duo continued to stand in stunned silence until he saw the blankets covering Heero begin to shake.

Pressing his lips together, Duo gathered all his courage and sat on the bed. His heart was pounding hard in his chest as he grabbed the blankets and pulled them off Heero's head. Duo felt a pain in his chest as he looked at the usually emotionless boy. Heero's hands were covering his face, and the boy's whole body shook with his silent sobs.

Duo carefully put his arms around Heero, mindfully of his wounds. Heero's body seemed to tense at the contact, but Duo didn't pull away.

"Heero," Duo whispered. "I'm not going to leave you. I promise."

"Why?" Heero sobbed. "You shouldn't have to put up with me being like this. I... I don't want you to see me like this..."

Again, Duo felt confused. Didn't Heero just tell him to stay? "Do you want me to leave?" Duo asked. Heero shook his head. "Okay then. I'm going to stay."

Heero didn't reply, so Duo continued to hold him and eventually he began to calm. After what seemed like a long time, Heero again asked, "Why?"

Duo lifted his head. "Why what?"

"Why don't you just leave? Why stay?"

Duo felt unsure of how he should answer. Now that he seemed to be getting close to Heero, he didn't want anything to jeopardize his chances. Telling Heero too much just might do that, but telling too little might dry up any opportunity he might have had. Duo sighed and put his hand over Heero's hands. Curving his fingers around Heero's fingers, Duo tried to pry the other pilot's hands from his face. Heero resisted at first, then gave up and let Duo pull his hands away from his eyes.

Heero began to turn his head away, but Duo put his hands on both sides of Heero's head. The braided boy looked deeply into Heero's red, swollen eyes. "I'm your friend," Duo said and tried to smile reassuringly. Heero moved his eyes away from Duo's and the American frowned. "Heero," Duo began. He thought he had an idea of why Heero was looking away and he meant to remedy it. "I know, we don't get along all the time." _Boy is that the understatement of the year, _Duo thought. "But I _am_ your friend."

Heero was still looking away and Duo began to feel uncomfortably guilty. He now wished more than ever that he had apologized to Heero the night before, instead of fighting with him. _Well, no time like the present, _Duo thought.

"Heero," Duo began. "I... I'm sorry." Duo wasn't sure how to continue, and looked away. _Way to go Duo. You've just won the award for the lamest apology ever, _Duo thought.

"Why?"

Duo brought his eyes back to Heero, and saw genuine confusion in his eyes. Duo shook his head. He didn't think he would ever get use to seeing so much emotion played on Heero's face.

"About everything I guess... For fighting with you last night. About making fun of you and your laptop." Duo shrugged. "I dunno... just everything."

The pained look that crossed Heero's face confirmed Duo's suspicions that Heero had indeed been hurt by their unkind words. Suddenly, two thoughts hit Duo at once. The first was, _Is this boy I'm seeing now, the real Heero? The one behind the mask? _The second was, _Where IS Heero's laptop?_

Deciding to act on the second thought, he looked around. It wasn't anywhere in the room.

Turning back to Heero he said, "Speaking of your laptop, where is it?"

Heero's eyebrows knit together in confusion and his eyes searched the room. Suddenly his eyes widened and he looked back at Duo. Their eyes met for a moment before Heero looked up to the ceiling.

"In the attic?" Duo knew the answer, but being the master of obvious questions, he asked anyway. Heero looked back at Duo and nodded.

"Well then..." A pause, then, "I'll go get it for you." Heero's whole body tensed and he shook his head, eyes wide. "We have to go up there and inspect anyway." Duo hoped he sounded confident, because he sure didn't feel that way. He really didn't want to go into the attic, but he wanted to do something big to prove his friendship to Heero. Besides, they did need to go check the attic. He definitely wouldn't be able to sleep knowing there was something that had frightened _Heero_, of all people, on the loose.

Heero shook his head again and said, with terror in his voice, "No! Duo, no."

Duo opened his mouth to speak again when Heero cut him off. "They're up there!" he hissed. His eyes pleaded for Duo to understand.

"Who?"

"Them. All... of them."

* * *

Trowa threw himself against the wall of an old building. The sound of shouts and shooting filled the air. He pulled the large weapon he carried closer to his chest. The group he was currently fighting with was having more difficulty than they had anticipated.

He could hear the mobile suits in the distance, and knew their time in this place was limited. He heard the soldiers he was working with scrambling to find places to hide, or escape routes.

No.

Things definitely weren't going as planned. He moved his eyes around swiftly, trying to find a safe place to hide. It would be best if he laid low, as well, until the fight was over. One of his comrades came into sight and beckoned for Trowa to follow. Trowa took one more look around and ran towards the soldier.

"Come, boy. I know a good place to hide out."

Trowa said nothing, only looked at the man. The soldier grunted, as if he had expected such a response. Turning, the man ran down one of the alleyways, and Trowa followed... followed him for quite some time. The sounds of the battle seemed to grow more distant and he knew he should be feeling more confident in his chances for survival.

But he didn't.

He began to grow uneasy and he wasn't sure why. He had no reason not to trust the man. He had worked with him on several missions, and although he didn't associate with anyone very often, he knew the man well enough to know he wouldn't be led astray.

If this was so... why did he feel so...

He realized, before he bumped into the man, that the other soldier had stopped running. The man opened a large steel door and looked to Trowa.

"Well, boy, you first." The man waited expectantly. Trowa gazed into the darkness beyond the door. He could see nothing beyond the threshold. The uneasiness he had been feeling, grew into dread. He turned his gaze to the man.

He wrinkled his brow. "_Why can't I remember this man's name?_" he thought to himself. A loud booming noise came from behind him and he jumped.

"Come on, boy. You don't want to die do you? Just come in here and everything will be fine. You won't have to worry about anything anymore."

He felt tempted by the words and he felt himself drawn to the open door. The thought of not having to endure another day of not really knowing who he was, not having a name to call his own, was so enticing...

He took a step forward.

He wouldn't have to feel the hurt of being pushed away by the one he cared for the most in all the world...

_Quatre..._

He suddenly realized how close he had come to the door. He looked over to the man and saw greedy anticipation in his eyes. Trowa searched the man's eyes for fear; after all, they were in the middle of a battle, but he saw none.

Trowa pressed his lips together. He didn't want to not worry about Quatre. He _needed_ Quatre. He needed to find out what was wrong with Quatre. He needed to protect Quatre.

_Who is Quatre?_ The question flitted through his mind, and he realized he didn't know.

"This isn't right," he said finally.

The man looked perturbed and said, "What?"

"This isn't right." Trowa took a step back away from the inviting door. He felt so confused, everything felt so... wrong. "This never happened." The words tumbled out of his mouth, although he felt unsure of what they meant.

The man began to get angry and said, "Look, kid. If you don't get in here... You. Will. Die."

"No, I won't," Trowa said calmly, but still unsure.

The soldier smiled a greasy smile at him and said, "Oh... but you will." The man started to cackle and Trowa felt his gut tighten at the sound. The man's head cocked to one side, as if he were listening to something, then turned his attention back to Trowa. "We've changed our mind. We have other plans for you... Of course, you'll never escape this completely. You've come too close."

"Huh? We?" Trowa responded dumbly.

The man slammed the door shut and the sound seemed to reverberate through his soul. Trowa shivered involuntarily.

"Yes. We. I. It is all the same. We are one, and I am many."

Trowa felt a sudden need to be away from the man. He didn't know who the hell this was, or what the hell this was, but this wasn't the man he knew. The soldier advanced on him, but Trowa stood his ground. Not out of bravery, but because he couldn't get his body to respond. The man stopped inches away and peered deeply into Trowa's eyes.

"You, boy, are mine." The whispered words seemed to be the hissing of a snake. "Every one of you is mine." The man's eyes were laughing at him.

_Every one of who? There is only me... _he thought. Another thought came unbidden, and this one also made no sense, even thought he knew it should. _No, there's five of us..._

The man leered at Trowa. "We'll let you go back to your blond bitch for now. We know you want him. You should thank us. You have another chance to screw his brains out." The soldier's laugher was obscene in Trowa's ears. "Such a vulnerable boy he is. His mind is so easy to fuck around with. You should try it sometime."

Trowa's mind continued to talk to itself, and none of it made any sense to Trowa. _"Who?" "Quatre!" "Who's Quatre?"_

Trowa opened his mouth to speak, but couldn't. The revulsion he felt at being so close to this man, this... _thing..._ was indescribable. There may have been a man in front of him, but he knew his eyes were deceiving him. This was no man. It was something wrong...

Something evil.

The _thing's_ eyes looked past him and Trowa turned around, afraid of something worse behind him. He felt—as much as his eyes told him—the world shift. A sandy breeze hit him and he was surprised to see sand, rocks...

...and the cabin.


	10. Ceramic

**Dead Ground**

**10**

**Ceramic**

Duo stood near the window again, leaning on the windowsill as he watched Heero sleep. Heero didn't give anymore information regarding who or what might be in the attic. From the little Heero said, it sounded as if there were a whole host of people up there.

Duo mulled Heero's words over in his mind. _"They're up there! Them... all of them." _He sighed. _All of them, all of them... all of who?_

Heero calmed when Duo had promised to stay with him, and Duo had kept his promise. Here he was, watching over him. _Well, promise kept, _he thought. He had stayed, but he needed to get up there and check the attic before it got dark. Duo walked away from the window and checked Heero's sleeping form. He'd have to be quick. He didn't want Heero waking up with no one there.

Duo silently slipped out of the room and when he began down the stairs, Duo noticed how quiet the cabin was. The sound of his footsteps on the wooden floor seemed very loud to his ears, and the air seemed dusty in the late afternoon light. The main floor of the cabin was much cooler with the coming storm then the upstairs. Duo shivered slightly and wrapped his arms around himself, walking toward Wufei's room, then stopped.

Darkness seemed to be coming out of the room the way light would. Duo swallowed nervously. He didn't know what to make of the bazaar phenomenon. Duo had to stare for a few minutes to let the reverse effect register in his brain. Cautiously, he walked toward the room then stopped before letting the darkness touch him. Duo tensed as he slowly reached his hand toward the darkness, as if the shadow were poisonous. The area seemed to swallow his hand and the further he reached in, the more difficult it became to see his hand.

Duo peered in and saw two forms in the darkness. One was lying on the bed and the other was sitting on the floor, back to the bed, legs outstretched. He guessed the one on the bed was Wufei and, since the figure on the floor had killer bangs, the other one was Trowa.

Duo chewed on the inside of his cheek. He really didn't want to talk to Trowa again, but he needed someone to cover his back. He would ask Wufei, but he had a feeling he might not be up for the job.

"Trowa," Duo whispered. Not wanting to walk into the dark abyss that was now Wufei's room.

No response.

"Trowa!" Duo hissed a little louder.

Again, no response.

Duo sighed and walked into the dark pillar. Reaching into the room, he felt around for the light switch intending to turn on the light. However, finding the light switch didn't do him any good when he realized it was already on.

Cursing under his breath, Duo inched into the room. The darkness was heavy and oppressive and the usually light hearted boy began to feel drained and depressed. Kneeling beside Trowa, Duo gently shook his shoulder and whispered for him to wake up.

Nothing.

Duo checked Trowa's breathing just to make sure he hadn't died or something. Not that Duo really thought Trowa had died, but...

_Better to be safe then sorry._

Duo exhaled slowly and slumped his shoulders. He _really _didn't want to go into the attic alone, but he would if he had to. Lightning flashed outside, but with the window as dingy as it was, very little of the bright bolt lit the small room. Duo glanced at the window and waited for the thunder.

_One one thousand, two one thousand, three one thousand... _The boy chanted in his head. He made it to eight one thousand before the thunder came.

Pressing his lips together, Duo brought his attention back to the matter at hand and thought of his options. Trowa was not a backup option, being out cold. He looked over to Wufei's obviously sleeping form. The black haired boy was also not an option. _Heero..._ also not an option. All three asleep.

Duo's eyes slid to one of Wufei's walls.

_Quatre..._

Duo stood and left the room as quietly as he could. Finding himself at Quatre's door, Duo paused.

_It's a long shot, but I guess ya never know unless ya check, _Duo thought.

Duo decided not to knock. He knew Quatre had pretended to be asleep earlier and he'd decided, at the time, to let it be. This time though he didn't want to give Quatre the opportunity to do the same thing.

Opening the door, Duo stuck his head inside the room. Quatre was standing near the window, gazing out at something. At the creaking of the door opening, Quatre spun around quickly with a scared look on his face.

"It's just me Quatre," Duo said quickly. This statement, however, didn't seem to help the Arabian boy feel at peace. Quatre's eyes narrowed slightly and his stance became tense and defensive. Duo moved into the room and shut the door behind him. "How are you feeling?"

Quatre only shrugged and watched Duo warily, making him feel nervous and unsure. There was something in Quatre's eyes that was... off... somehow.

"So... Whatcha lookin at?" Duo said, trying to feel the uncomfortable silence with small talk.

"Them."

Duo tensed as Heero's words came back to him once more. _Them... all of them. _He waited for Quatre to elaborate, and when he didn't, Duo asked, "Them who?"

Quatre stared at Duo for almost a minute before he said, "Come see."

As Duo walked closer he got a better look at the other pilot. Quatre's eyes were bloodshot and the skin around his eyes was dry and pinkish-red. Dark circles told of how little the boy had slept. Quatre also looked pale and weak. Duo looked out the window and saw sand, rocks and in the distance, the forest.

Nothing else.

Thinking he must have missed something, Duo searched the landscape again. With a confused look on his face, Duo turned to Quatre and said, "What am I looking for?"

"Them."

Scrunching his eyebrows together even more, Duo looked out the window again. Sand. Rocks. Distant forest.

Duo sighed in defeat and looked back at Quatre. "I don't see anyone."

"They're there."

"Who?"

"Trowa and Wufei."

Duo whipped his head around and stared out the window. After a moment of searching he turned back to Quatre. "I hate to tell you this, but... Trowa and Wufei are in Wufei's room."

Quatre shrugged. "Maybe."

Duo looked closer at him. _Maybe? What kind of an answer is that? _He opened his mouth, then closed it again.

Quatre looked into Duo's eyes. "Do you think I'm crazy?"

Duo looked away and sighed. He didn't want to go down this train of thought. Not right now. Not today. Deciding to change the subject, Duo said, "I'm going to go up to the attic to check for..." Duo waved his hand in the air

"...what scared Heero," Quatre finished for Duo.

"Yeah. I kinda think I should have some backup when I go up there. I was gonna ask Trowa, but he's..." Duo stopped and looked at Quatre, then to the window, then back to Quatre.

"...asleep," Quatre again finished Duo's sentence.

Duo brought a hand to his head. He was getting a major headache. "Uh... Yeah... So I was thinking if you were feeling any better maybe you could be my backup."

"You don't need backup."

Duo dropped the hand he had been using to massage his temple. "What do you mean, 'I don't need backup'? You saw how Heero was, and you haven't even seen the gashes on Heero's side..."

Quatre shook his head. "It doesn't matter."

"What doesn't matter?"

"Where you go."

Duo rubbed his eyes. "Do you think you can be any more vague?"

"Yes."

* * *

Trowa walked toward the cabin for what seemed like hours, although he knew in the back of his mind that it had only been minutes. Thunder rumbled above him and Trowa looked up to see a clear sky. Dark clouds were on the way but they hadn't arrived yet.

_Strange..._

He turned his gaze back to the cabin and his eyes opened in surprise. Just a few feet away from where Trowa stood, someone was kneeling on the ground. Trowa was sure he knew who it was, but then he wasn't sure. He walked cautiously forward until he stood over the kneeling boy. The voice inside his head that had been insisting he needed Quatre, now decided Trowa also knew this boy. He thought hard, but was unable to retrieve the other boy's name from his memory. All he knew was that he knew this boy and he didn't want any harm to come to him.

_One of the five..._ his mind whispered to him.

Trowa stopped his mind searching as the kneeling boy slowly stood. He expected, wanted, the dark-haired boy to turn around, but he didn't.

"Wufei," Trowa said without thinking. As soon as the name fell from his lips, Trowa knew it belonged to the boy in front of him.

Instead of turning toward Trowa, the Chinese boy started walking forward, away from Trowa. He sighed and looked at the ground. His eyes narrowed in worry as he saw the dirt red with blood. Even though Trowa could only vaguely think he knew this person, he was concerned with how the other boy was acting, and of course the blood on the ground merited some worry as well.

Thinking to help, Trowa walked swiftly after the unsteady boy. He put a hand on the Wufei's shoulder and shook him gently. The moment Trowa's hand connected with the other boy, memories washed through his mind, and left just as quickly.

"Wufei!" Trowa said in urgent concern, but he seemed not to hear Trowa and continued his slow pace. In desperation Trowa grabbed both of Wufei's shoulders and forcefully turned him around. Trowa flinched at the look in Wufei's eyes. His gaze was unfocused and seemed almost dead. Trowa shivered as he experienced the feeling that this all seemed so... familiar in a way.

He shook Wufei again, this time a little harder, and Wufei blinked slowly and moved his gaze lazily over Trowa's face.

"Wufei?!" Trowa said, unable to keep the worry out of his voice.

Wufei looked slowly looked around then said in a slurred tone, "How did I get here?"

Trowa opened his mouth to speak when he heard a scream.

_Quatre?!_

Trowa whipped his head around...

...only to find himself sitting on the floor staring at a wall.

* * *

Duo moved his fingers and peered at Quatre.

_Yes?! What the hell did he mean by that?_

Duo's head was throbbing and he decided to turn the conversation away from the attic and Quatre's cryptic words for a few minutes. Glancing over to the dresser, Duo spied the pancake he had brought in for the other boy earlier.

Dropping his hand, Duo said, "Dude... Quatre. You _have _to eat something." Ignoring Quatre's narrowing eyes, Duo walked over to the dresser and picked up the plate.

"I'm not hungry. Besides, I had some of Wufei's..."

"Nu uh. Wufei's 'Toxic Smell from Hell' doesn't count," Duo interrupted. "Sustenance man! Look at you! You're totally wasting away." Duo held the plate out to him. "Eat," Duo commanded.

Quatre's eyes widened as he stared at the plate. Duo rolled his eyes and stepped closer to the other boy. "It's not going to kill you." Quatre flinched at Duo's words and retreated away from his advancing steps, then Quatre's back met the wall. Duo's eyebrows knit together.

_What's wrong with you Quatre? _Duo thought desperately.

"It's only a pancake Quatre." Duo was half begging him to eat. He just wanted someone to do something _normal_! Trying one last time, Duo, now quite close to the other pilot, thrust the plate out to Quatre.

Suddenly, Quatre screamed and pushed the plate away sending it flying from Duo's hands and to the wall where the ceramic dish shattered. Duo stood paralyzed with shock at the unusual show of aggression from his comrade. Quatre took advantage of this and rushed to the broken ceramic and found a large sharp piece.

"Stay away," Quatre said in a soft warning tone. Duo could see him shaking and felt a pain in his chest. Something was obviously wrong with the other boy, and he had a feeling it had to do with Quatre's 'sickness'.

_Why didn't we see it before? How could we be so blind?_ Duo thought.

Inching closer to Quatre, Duo stretched out his hand. "Quatre," he whispered softly.

"Stay away," Quatre repeated. He was obviously scared and Duo had no idea why.

"What's wrong Quatre?" Duo asked gently. Quatre swiped at him with the broken shard, but Duo dodged the attack easily. "Quatre?" Duo tried to put all the caring feeling he could into talking to him.

Quatre's face contorted into a look of pure pain, and Duo could see Quatre was near tears. Duo stepped forward and removed the ceramic from Quatre's hand. He gave it up easily, though Duo didn't know if this was because Quatre was no longer angry at him or if he was just too weak to continue.

Duo grabbed Quatre by the arm and pulled him close. He resisted a little, but he was too frail to break away. Quatre pulled his arms up between himself and Duo, as if the blonde believed he could still protect himself from the braided boy, when Duo wrapped his arms around him. Quatre's fists pressed hard against Duo's cross, digging it painfully into the his chest.

"Quatre... what's wrong. Please..." Duo could tell that Quatre was trying hard not to cry. "Quatre?"

"Trowa..." the blonde boy whispered the name with a depth of agony Duo had never heard before. Suddenly Duo felt angry with Trowa all over again.

"What did that bastard do to you?" Duo asked, trying hard to keep his anger in check.

"Nothing!" Quatre moaned, and Duo could feel him grab a hold of his shirt and the cross underneath causing the chain to pull against Duo's neck. "He didn't do _anything_... not really... and now... it's all my fault... now he hates me... I'm sure of it! But I can't help it... I don't know... I just don't understand... I'm so sca...

Quatre stopped in mid-sentence as a squeaking sound alerted both the boys to the bedroom door being opened. Duo and Quatre both turned their heads and saw Trowa standing in the doorway.


	11. The attic

**Dead Ground**

**11**

**The Attic**

Quatre's eyes widened as his met Trowa's. HeQuatre could feel pain and jealousy radiating from the other pilot... Although Trowa's face didn't change its expression, when his gaze shifted to Duo, Quatre could sense the strong hatred that seemed to consume him. Quatre could feel Duo stiffen, and the emotions of one who feels misunderstood and embarrassed rolled off him, as well as mild anger.

Duo blushed and quickly dropped his arms. Quatre let go of Duo and stepped away. "Trowa. It's... not what you..." Duo began but Trowa cut him off.

"What's going on in here?" It was said mildly and the average observer would have thought Trowa was disinterested in the scene before him. Quatre wasn't a casual observer though, and he could feel something wasn't quite right. It wasn't just the negative emotions that were coming from Trowa...

No.

It was something else... Quatre inched toward the bed trying in a vain attempt to disappear. It wasn't just the strangeness coming from Trowa that made Quatre uneasy; it was all that had happened earlier. Quatre knew he'd hurt Trowa deeply, and he felt ashamed. He wished with all his heart that he could throw himself into Trowa's arms and beg forgiveness for his words earlier. He knew he hadn't been fair to him; Trowa really had done nothing to him. He wanted to make it better, but he couldn't...

Even though he kept telling himself it had been a dream, part of him couldn't help feeling that it hadn't been a dream...

It took all of Quatre's will power not to reach up and touch the scars on his arms. They were reminders that nothing was what it seemed anymore. _Trowa_ wasn't what he seemed anymore... The world seemed to be going crazy, and it was taking Quatre along for the ride.

"Well... I..." Duo stuttered, bringing Quatre out of his thoughts.

"Fuck, Duo... Just tell me what the hell is going on." The words clashed horribly with the soft tone Trowa was using. Quatre sat on the bed and looked at the floor as he listened to the two pilots talk.

"I wanted someone to check the attic out with me so I thought..."

Trowa raised an eyebrow and said, "You wanted a sick person to cover your ass?"

Duo's blush deepened. "No. Yes. No. I mean..." Trowa folded his arms and took up the attitude of one who is bestowing patience on a child. "I was going to ask you or Wufei, but you guys were asleep. Then I thought I'd see if Quatre was feeling up to going with me..."

Trowa glanced over at the broken dish, then to him. Quatre could feel Trowa's gaze and tensed when he sensed the possessive jealousy emanating from him.

"Obviously, he isn't up to it, Maxwell." Trowa walked into the room and Quatre scooted back on the bed until his back met the wall. He lifted his gaze to see Trowa looking down at him with a concerned look. "Are you alright, Quatre?"

Quatre looked away from Trowa's searching eyes. The tender caring he felt from Trowa almost convinced his paranoid mind that everything was fine.

Almost.

The compassion in Trowa's voice couldn't mask the felling of something not quite right. To Quatre, it seemed Trowa had begun taking a trip into madness, then decided to rest along the way, making Trowa only half mad instead of completely insane.

If everything was fine, Quatre wouldn't have been able to feel the other pilots' emotions. Each of the boys were usually very good at hiding their emotions from him.

Not now though.

Quatre wasn't sure what to make of the emotions from Trowa. In the room besides his, Quatre could feel Wufei's presence. The despair coming from the Chinese pilot was almost unbearable. Yet even this was confusing, for Quatre's eyes were just telling him, moments before, that Wufei was outside, and he also felt that Wufei was out there as well...

Then of course there was Heero. An involuntary shiver ran through him. The terror, guilt, and pain Quatre felt earlier from the pilot of Wing still lingered in the back of his mind like some sort of thick, slimy residue. The emotions had driven him from the supposed safety of his room, out into the living room to do anything he could think of to make it stop. Not out of any real pity for Heero, Quatre guiltily admitted to himself, but for the last bits of what might remain of his own sanity.

Quatre's eyes flicked to Duo. He was the only one who had not been affected like the rest of them, and Quatre had a vague idea why, though he couldn't put words to it for some reason. His mind just went fuzzy when he tried to think it out. Whatever the reason, it would change soon. When or how, he didn't know. He just knew that it would.

His gaze returned to Trowa in time to see him frown slightly before he turned to Duo and said calmly, with something close to contempt in his eyes, "I'm not ill or injured, so I guess I'm safe to go up to the attic with you."

Duo's eyes narrowed. "What do you mean by that?"

"I mean that you are a fucking pervert who likes to pick up on sick boys." The blood drained from Duo's face and his eyes widened as Trowa delivered the verbal attack in a calm, but grated voice.

"It's... not like that..." Duo whispered in shock, eyes flicking nervously to Quatre then away again; clearly hurt and embarrassed.

Quatre's eyebrows knit together at the scene before him. There was obviously something going on between the other two boys. There had to be some reason Trowa would say something like that. Some reason Duo would respond like that... Something that Quatre didn't understand. The hatred, pain, and jealousy that came with Trowa's last words were... indescribable. Quatre moved his eyes to Duo who was plainly making an effort to keep his feelings in check as his embarrassment and hurt turned to anger.

Duo pressed his lips together, then said, "I'll wait for you by the hatch." Turning to look at Quatre, he forced a smile. "I hope... I hope you feel better Quatre. I'll come check on you later okay?"

Quatre wanted to tell Duo not to trust Trowa. As much as it hurt Quatre to admit it to himself, Trowa was unstable and maybe... dangerous.

But he kept silent.

Quatre didn't want to believe that about Trowa. He cared for Trowa, even though he was afraid to show it, he always had, but... but now... now he was afraid of the other boy. Quatre didn't know how... when it happened. He just didn't know anything anymore.

Quatre nodded numbly to Duo's statement, then turned his head and looked out the window.

Maybe he was just imagining everything.

Maybe.

As Duo stalked out of the room, Quatre cautiously glanced back at Trowa. The other pilot suddenly seemed uncomfortable and looked away. Quatre suddenly felt sorry for him. The emotions coming from Trowa were no longer anger, but shame, embarrassment, pain, and confusion. It was unnerving at how fast Trowa was changing from one emotion to another.

"Quatre. I... I'm sorry. I... whatever I did to make you... mad at me... I'm sorry." Trowa's voice dripped with the pain and confusion he was feeling, making Quatre want to cry, but he didn't have the strength. He wanted to reach out to Trowa, but didn't have the courage. He didn't want to feel afraid of the other boy, or be confused in the things he saw, thought, and dreamed... but he did.

When he didn't respond, Trowa turned and walked to the window. Quatre wondered if Trowa was able to see Wufei, but he didn't ask. After a few moments of silence, Trowa began in a whisper, "Quatre... I... I don't know what I did wrong. I'm not sure what is going on with you... or with me or..." Trowa trailed off and rested his head against the glass.

Quatre swallowed back the tears he felt threatening to come.

In the same soft whisper, Trowa continued, "I had this dream... something happened... there was someone... and a door... but I didn't go in... I can't remember anything else. Now everything is all wrong. I don't know how to explain it." Trowa squeezed his eyes closed. "I don't know what's wrong with me..."

Trowa lifted his forehead off the grimy glass and turned his head to look at him. Quatre felt a pain in his heart when he saw the perplexed agony in the other boy's eyes.

Trowa took a step toward Quatre and said quietly, "Quatre. I want you to know..."

But Trowa never finished. With the sudden movement toward him and the words, "I want you," Quatre gasped and involuntarily shrank back, the disturbing dream making an assault on his memory and emotions.

At Quatre's reaction, Trowa stopped and stared with a torn look on his face. When Quatre just stared back at him, Trowa turned and despondently left the room without another word. Quatre stared at the door for a few moments before he lowered his head into his hands and let loose the tears of pain, frustration, and fear.

* * *

Duo clenched his fists together tightly and made his way toward the stairs. _That... Bastard! What the hell is his problem?! _he thought angrily. Duo almost slammed his foot on the stair, but stopped himself. He didn't want to make a racket and wake Heero. Slowly and deliberately, Duo made his way up the stairs.

Despite the intense anger, he felt tears well up in his eyes. He had always had a decent relationship with Trowa and the sudden onslaught was not only confusing, but hurtful as well.

When he reached his room, Duo quickly grabbed a flashlight and a gun from his duffel bag and returned to the hall. He looked over the balustrade and saw Trowa going through his own stuff. Duo turned his gaze from the other pilot to Heero's door, and decided to look in on his friend to make sure he was alright.

Slowly he cracked the door open and glanced inside. The pilot of Wing was still asleep, but the sleep was fitful. Heero moaned softly and shook his head back and forth, making Duo wonder whether he should wake him or not. Before he could come to an answer, a hand grabbed his shoulder and pulled him away from the door.

Before Duo could react, Trowa had his hand over the other boy's mouth.

"Shhhh." The hushing sound from Trowa was soft and light.

Trowa turned his quieting look from him and looked into Heero's room. Slowly, Trowa reached out with his other hand and grabbed the knob, but didn't shut the door immediately though. The pilot's green eyes rested on Heero for a moment, and Duo saw a slight tightening of his lips before Trowa slowly shut the door.

As if sensing Duo's thoughts, Trowa said, "He doesn't need to be woken." The words seemed to leave something unsaid, but Duo didn't want to know what those unspoken words might be. When he nodded, Trowa took his hand away from his mouth.

They stood staring at each other for several moments. Though Duo's expression remained neutral during the undeclared 'staring contest', Trowa's changed several times.

Anger.

Shame.

Frustration.

Pain.

Jealousy.

Uncertainty.

Confusion.

What Trowa could have possibly been thinking, Duo couldn't say. The expression changes, however, were unnerving and quickly made him nervous. There were several times Duo thought Trowa was going to say something, but he never did.

Finally, out of frustration, Duo widened his eyes and said impertinently, "Weeeell?"

Trowa shook his head slightly as if shaking off an unwanted thought, then turned to position the chair he had brought with him underneath the hatch. As Duo watched Trowa work, he began to feel his earlier reservations about going into the attic return, and absent-mindedly grabbed the cross he wore through his clothes.

When he realized what he was doing, Duo dropped his hand. After all, the thing never seemed to help before. Sniffing in exasperation, Duo said, "Ya know... either this thing is broken or someone up there just doesn't like me!" Trowa glanced at Duo with a blank stare for a moment before replying.

"Why do you wear it then? Why not just get rid of it?" Trowa asked, his voice sincere and curious.

Duo, not sensing the genuine curiosity, pushed passed Trowa and snapped, "It's none of your business, asshole." Trowa's eyes widened slightly as he watched Duo climb on the chair. Then as quickly as the wounded look came, it was gone, leaving a dangerous glint in narrowed eyes.

When Duo situated himself on the chair, he pulled out his gun, then looked down at Trowa, who took out his own gun and nodded in return. Duo tensed when he grabbed a hold of the hatch handle and pulled. It came down easily since it hadn't been shut tightly. Keeping his gun pointed up, Duo ducked as he brought the hatch swinging down.

When nothing came jumping down at him, Duo straightened, then gasped. The reason the hatch had been so hard to open the first time was because it had been nailed shut. The thick nails were coming from the sides of where the hatch closes, and were bent at an upward angle. Duo squinted at the upturned steel on one of the sides.

The nails were covered in red.

* * *

The small seven-year-old ran quickly down the sidewalk. He'd been successful in killing his target; the dirty politician had deserved to die... He knew that because Odin said the man was bad. The janitor, however, hadn't deserved death. The boy hadn't expected the nice old man to walk in. It wasn't fair. He hadn't wanted to kill the friendly custodian, especially since the old man had given him a piece of candy earlier when he and Odin had been checking the place out, but he'd had no choice.

The small boy brushed the tears from his cobalt-blue eyes as he ran. He could still see the shock in the grandfatherly face at seeing the politician dead, before the old man met his own death. The boy hated having to kill people, especially when they didn't deserve it. Yet, he'd had little choice in the matter. If he wouldn't kill, then Odin wouldn't want him around. And the last thing the boy wanted was to be alone; being alone was worse then killing.

_Sore wa fukouheida, sore wa fukouheida yo!_(1) the boy thought over and over again in his native tongue.

The young assassin stopped running when he was sure he was far enough from the government building. Leaning down, he put his hands on his knees and tried to catch his breath. As his breathing began to slow, the boy turned his head and looked at the building next to him. It was a store with a large window for the people passing by to look in.

He could see himself reflected in the shop window. Standing up, the boy walked closer to the window, raking fingers through his dark, ever-messy hair. Realizing the window belonged to that of a pet shop, the boy forgot about making himself presentable and leaned against the glass to look inside. The featured pets were a large litter of kittens, and he gazed in innocent wonder at the small mewing creatures. After a few minutes, one of the furry animals noticed him and made its way toward the glass.

He was about to put his face closer to the glass when he noticed an older man reflected in the glass behind him. The man was wearing a business suit and was glaring down at him. The boy thought he may have seen the older man before but didn't know where. The boy remembered his cover story if asked where his parents were and turned around to speak to the man.

There was no one there.

The boy's eyes went wide involuntarily and he whipped around to look back at the window. The man was still there, but he wasn't alone. Now there were more men with the first, and they all looked very un-happy with him. The boy began to feel nervous and for some reason… guilty. The boy turned around again, and again there was no one there.

Noventa… The name flitted through the child's mind and he gasped.

Fear seized the boy's heart and he slowly turned to face the window again. There were even more people, some looked like soldiers and they were all angry... at him. The young assassin put his hand to his head, which was starting to throb. He'd never seen these people in his whole life, he was sure of it, but he felt like he had...

He began to shake his head as if he could clear the unwelcome people from his brain. The phenomenon was incomprehensible to the boy's young mind. Finally the boy did the only thing he could think of.

He ran.

* * *

Duo reached out his hand and rubbed at the red on the nails.

It was blood.

Dried blood.

"Those must be what caused Heero's wounds," came Trowa's voice from below.

Duo looked down. "You think so?"

Trowa nodded. "Look at the thickness of the nails. Tell me, Duo, how old does that blood look to you?"

Duo returned his gaze to the metal before him and nodded. Grudgingly, he said, "You're right. It's dried, but it's not very old." Duo looked back down at Trowa. "But... if it's the nails that caused his wounds then why doesn't he have gouges on his other side as well, or even his back and front?"

Trowa rolled his eyes. "It really is obvious, you know. If Heero was standing directly in the middle when the hatch came down then he wouldn't have gotten hurt at all, but he wasn't. He was off to the side a bit and that little bit made the difference. Heero was lucky that he wasn't off to the side and back... or front for that matter." Trowa grimaced with the thought of being gouged in the front by the nails.

With the mystery of Heero's wounds being solved, Duo felt a little better about going into the attic. Not a whole lot better, but some.

Duo's original plan had been to pull himself up into the attic, but now with the nails he knew he would need a new plan to avoid getting cut himself. Looking down at Trowa, Duo said, "I think it will work better if you stand on the chair and give me a boost up. Then I'll pull you up."

* * *

The boy stopped running and collapsed onto a bench at the bus stop. His chest ached from the run and he had trouble getting his breathing under control. Thinking back to what he saw in the window, the boy shuttered and shook his head. Though he was being conditioned to bury his feelings, he wasn't, as of yet, an expert on hiding his emotions completely, and the people in the store window had frightened him more then he wanted to admit.

The young assassin looked around and his heart sank. There were soldiers, like the ones in the window, on the sidewalk and in cars. Some glared at him. Others just glanced in his direction. There were also many people, who weren't soldiers that were staring at the him as well.

The child swallowed hard. Many of them... Some of them... The boy was sure that he knew some of them... In some way... But then... There was no way...

The boy grabbed his head and shut his eyes. _Wakaranai yo... wakaranai..._(2) he thought while shaking his head back and forth.

Suddenly there was a barking noise and the boy looked up to see a little girl, about his own age, standing by the bench with a puppy beside her. The boy thought he knew this girl, knew her dog... but the knowledge was fleeting and he couldn't grasp onto it long enough to get an answer.

The girl was glaring at him and again the boy swallowed hard.

"It's all your fault," she said accusingly. His eyes widened. "It's all your fault!" She screamed.

His head whipped around as he looked fearfully at the people. They were all staring at him. The puppy growled as the boy quickly stood up. The young assassin felt cold and empty inside...

And guilty.

He began to back away from the girl and tripped over the bench as he turned to run away. Pain flared hot in his knees as the skin was roughly torn away by the sidewalk, but he tried to ignore it and stumbled to his feet. Looking down, he saw blood running down his legs, but that didn't phase him.

He needed to get away...

And, turning around, he ran.

* * *

Duo caught his balance after pulling Trowa up through the hatch opening, then glared balefully at him. "Ya know... you don't look it, but you're one heavy son-of-a-bitch."

Trowa glanced blandly at Duo before searching the attic with his flashlight. The uppermost room in the cabin was open and large. Dust particles floated in the dim light that streamed down through the hole in the roof. The light from the collapsed roof lit up the attic enough that as one got closer to the wreckage a flashlight wasn't needed. Broken crates laying in one corner of the attic, and a few picture frames dotting the walls were the only things worth any notice other than the pile of wood and old roofing shingles from where Heero had fallen.

"What the hell...?"

Trowa looked to Duo who was looking down and pointing his flashlight to the floor. Looking down himself, Trowa saw what the other pilot was looking at and raised an eyebrow. There were foot prints, obviously Heero's, in the dirt on the wood floor. Ordinary foot prints...

Except that they looked months old...

Duo looked at Trowa with a confused look on his face. Heero had been up in the attic that morning.

Trowa moved the beam of his own flashlight along Heero's tracks and stopped.

"Duo," Trowa said softly. "Look over there..." Duo shined his own flashlight to where Trowa's was at and took in a sharp breath.

"They're up there..." Duo whispered.

Trowa stared at the braided boy with a confused expression on his face. "What? Who?"

Moving his flashlight over the attic floor he whispered, "Them. All... of them."

* * *

The young boy threw himself onto the large pile of trash that dominated the dingy alleyway. He was shaking and near tears. Pulling his legs up near his chest, he gave into his emotions and began to sob. It was all so confusing… He didn't understand. Who were all the people, and what did they want with him? The boy was sure he knew many of them from somewhere, but he couldn't think of where! The child ran the name from earlier over and over in his mind.

Noventa, Noventa, Noventa…

The boy knew it from somewhere he was sure… but why did he feel so much remorse when he thought of the name?

A hand on his shoulder brought the boy out of his deep thoughts. With a strangled gasp, the young assassin whipped around grabbing the arm that was attached to the hand. Blinking the tears from his eyes, the boy focused his gaze on a man with a strong jaw and blond hair.

"O…Odin?" The man smiled, but the smile seemed greasy and unreal. The boy stared into the hard eyes. "A..Anata…(3)" He had to think hard for a moment then continued in a hesitant English. "You…you are not Odin."

One of the man's eyebrows lifted and the smile grew. "Oh? Is that who we seem to be to you?" The man looked shrewdly at the boy and continued. "You're very observant, the other one didn't realize until… well, that hardly matters now does it? No. You're very correct. I am not Odin."

The child looked even more confused and the man kept silent for a moment, as if enjoying the boy's confusion before making his next statement.

"He's dead."

* * *

Duo and Trowa swept the beams of their flashlights over the dirty attic floor. There were foot prints everywhere.

Fresh footprints... as if made only hours ago.

They walked to the place where Trowa first saw the tracks. "Who ever made these footprints... These people... were walking towards Heero."

Duo raised an eyebrow. "How can you tell?"

"Look." Trowa swept the beam of the flashlight around the room. "There's a pattern. Also, the tracks are all heading for Heero's tracks."

Duo looked disbelievingly at the other pilot. "I don't see how you're getting all this. All I see are a bunch of overlapping shoe marks in the dirt."

"How did you say you became a gundam pilot again?" Trowa asked scornfully.

"Fuck you."

Trowa walked toward the rubble under the hole in the roof. "Not if you were the last..." He was interrupted by a bright flash of lightning that was accompanied by a loud crack of thunder. A couple rain drops came through the opening in the roof.

"Let's just get this done and get the hell out of here," Duo said testily. He didn't want to worry about old and new footprints or the boot marks of a host of people that couldn't have logically been in the attic. He just wanted to get Heero's laptop and get back to the object of his affections before he woke up.

Duo kept his gaze on the floor as he made his way toward the pile of wood and shingles. He stopped abruptly at a different set of foot prints. Child foot prints… and a dog? A puppy? What the hell? Duo thought. Looking up, he was about to bring the prints to Trowa's attention when he noticed the other pilot looking through the rubble. Not wanting to be out done, Duo quickly made his way to the pile, forgetting about the strange prints.

Duo felt irritated when Trowa, not him, was the one to find the laptop among the rubble and pick it up. He pushed a few buttons, tinkered with a few plugs, inspected the damage and finally declared the slim machine busted.

"Let me see that!" Duo growled and grabbing the laptop roughly.

Trowa shrugged and picked up the makeshift antenna Heero had been attempting to use. "This would have never worked anyway..." Trowa murmured.

As Duo glanced over the laptop, he realized, as much as he hated to admit it, that Trowa was right. The electronic notebook had definitely seen its last all-nighter. Duo didn't look forward to giving Heero the bad news. Sighing, Duo picked up the laptop and looked around, his gaze finally stopping on an object near the far wall. As Duo approached, he saw that it was a gun.

Heero's gun.

Duo reached down and picked the weapon up and looked from the gun to the wall then back to the gun. It had been thrown against the wall, that much was obvious, but why? Duo remembered hearing the clicking noises of an empty gun earlier and checked the clip.

It was full... the ammunition in perfect condition.

Duo turned around. "Yo Trowa, I..." he began, then stopped. Trowa was standing in the same place Duo had seen him last, holding the makeshift antenna in a death grip, staring forward with an angry look on his face. "Trowa?"

No answer.

Duo opened his mouth to try again, then rolled his eyes and walked over to him. Reaching out, Duo roughly grabbed Trowa's shoulder and shook him hard. Quickly, Trowa whipped his head around and said fiercely, "He's not a bitch!"

Duo's eyes widened and a hint of a confused smile played on his mouth. "What the hell are you talking about?"

Trowa blinked a couple of times and said, "What? I… I…"

Duo narrowed his eyes feeling an unwelcome feeling of concern for the pilot of Heavyarms. He didn't want to feel concern for Trowa, he wanted to be mad at the other boy for being such a prick.

Trowa rubbed his eyes and murmured, "Let's check this place out and be done with it."

* * *

The small boy's eyes widened with shock, then narrowed in pain.

"Iie... no… he can't…"

Tears welled up in his eyes, and spilled over onto his cheeks without him being aware of them.

The man continued to grin, as if he were pleased with the result of the news. "You know, we're actually surprised to see you like this here. This age I mean. Very interesting. The other one was only a few years younger then he is now, but you…" The man laughed.

The young assassin sniffled and looked over at the man who looked like Odin. "Nani…uh, what do you mean? What other one?"

The man moved in closer and caressed the child's face with his hand. "Even I didn't realize your soul was so immature. This will be easy… easier than with the other one… yes, I'm definitely glad we changed my mind about that." The man chuckled and the boy shuttered at the sound. "Did you know he came half way? No of course not. You know nothing. It would have been better if he would have come closer, but this is still entertaining. We need him to control that bitch of his. The blond one has more power than he knows. I don't want to risk anything until… "

The boy didn't understand the man's ramblings, but he didn't want to interrupt him either. If he did, then the man might leave and he would be alone again. Being with this man, who looked like Odin, was better than being alone. The boy came out of his thoughts only to realize the man had stopped talking and was now looking at him intently, almost greedily. He swallowed hard.

"I know what you want, what you need. We can give it to you."

They young boy looked at the man with a confused look on his face. "What is that?"

"You don't want to be alone. I can make that happen. All you have to do is come with us."

"Come with you?" The boy looked doubtfully at the man. He wasn't sure what he felt about this man who looked so much like Odin. The man seemed… strange…

The man shrugged and stood up to leave. "Well, I can see you're not interested…"

"MATTE!"(4) The boy lunged forward and grabbed onto the man's pants. If the man left… then… then… he would be alone again… alone with all those people… staring at him… The boy looked up at the man's face then both ways down the alleyway.

"They are not who they seem, you know."

The boy looked back up at the man's face in confusion. "What… what do you mean? Who are they?"

"They are the same as me. Not only that but, they are we."

The young assassin's face showed the confusion he was feeling. "Wakaranai… uh… I… don't understand…"

"You will if you come with us. Follow me, do what I have planned for you to do, and you will know… and you will never need to be alone again.

He bit the inside of his cheek nervously, then asked, "What do I have to do?"

* * *

Duo made his way to the broken crates, but after kicking around the wrecked remains, he decided there was nothing of interest there. Next he looked at what used to be pictures. Now all that was left were the frames and tattered canvas. The last was an oval mirror that was covered with who knew how many years of dust. He lifted his shirt and wiped off the surface of the glass. The mirror was not only dusty, but it seemed to have a greasy film covering the surface that smeared slightly. When he was finished, Duo stepped back to examine his work and found Trowa's angry reflection behind his own, pointing a gun at him.

Duo froze; his heart beating anxiously. "Trowa?" he whispered. Trowa didn't move. Slowly Duo raised his hands in the air. Duo wasn't sure if Trowa would really shoot him or not, but with the way he'd been acting that day, he didn't want to chance anything. In the mirror, Duo saw Trowa smirk. Swallowing hard, he decided to take a chance and turned around to face Trowa. But when he did, Trowa was off at the other side of the room looking at more of the broken frames fixed on the walls.

Duo blinked in confusion. Suddenly, the mirror behind him shattered. Duo ducked low, covering his head. Trowa ran over to where Duo was huddling. "What happened?"

Duo peeked up at Trowa. "I… I don't know!" Duo stood, brushing glass off his clothes.

"What's this?"

Duo looked up as Trowa pried something from the wall where the mirror had once been. Trowa looked at the object in confusion for a moment then held it up for Duo to see.

It was a bullet.

The type Trowa's gun took.

Duo stared for a moment, eyes wide, mouth open. Slowly, Duo tucked Heero's gun into his pants, then quickly grabbed Trowa's wrist.

"Let's get the hell out of this attic!"

* * *

The man who looked like Odin walked to the other side of the alleyway to a large metal door and opened it effortlessly. Looking at the boy expectantly, the man gestured with his hand for the child to enter.

The boy stood and peered into the opening. It was dark and he was unable to see what was beyond the door. Slowly he took a step toward the doorway, then another. Almost in a daze the boy traveled the distance to the entrance.

"Go in," the man whispered eagerly.

Slowly, the boy walked over the threshold. His footsteps seemed to echo around him, and he was so nervous that he didn't notice the man slip in through the doorway and follow him.

A rat scuttled out of the way, nearly missing being caught in the slamming door. The rat sniffed the door for a moment, only to be frightened away by the sudden screaming within.  
**1-** Sore wa fukouheida (yo) – It's not fair(!)

* * *

**2-** Wakaranai (yo) – I don't know(!)

**3-** Anata- You…

**4-** Matte – wait


	12. Candles

**Dead Ground**

**12**

**Candles**

Wufei rushed to the mobile suit and when he reached it, the hatch opened and a young girl fell out of the hatchway. Wufei caught her and lowered her to the ground. The girl was covered with multiple injuries and the amount of blood made Wufei want to gag. Looking up at the men nearby he shouted, "Don't just stand there! Get a medic!"

No one moved. They just looked at each other in discomfort. One man, a short old gentleman, walked to Wufei and knelt beside him.

"Wufei…" the old man began kindly. He was examining her wounds and seemed not to pay the man any attention. The man put a hand on his shoulder and Wufei looked at the man, tears glistening in his dark eyes. "Wufei. I'm sorry… There is nothing we can do for her."

"But…"

The old man opened his mouth to speak again, but was interrupted.

"Wufei…" The girl's voice was low and broken.

He leaned over to hear her better. "What is it?"

"Please… the flowers… take me to them…" Wufei nodded and gently picked her up.

The flowers.

The damn flowers.

She had led the enemy away so the flowers wouldn't be harmed. It took all the effort he could muster to keep from crying. Why did this have to happen?

The field wasn't far and when they reached their destination, Wufei slowly lowered himself to the ground and held her. He held her until he felt her skin grow cool, and when he realized she was gone, Wufei held her tightly, no longer needing to be careful not to hurt her.

He felt weak when the tears came. If she were alive, she would probably scorn him for being so weak.

"You should have listened to me," he whispered in despair. "I'm your husband. Wives should listen to their husbands… but now… you're gone… Damn you." Wufei's whispered words turned into broken sobs. "Damn you for never listening to me!"

Wufei moved to lay her body on the ground, and had to peel her dark hair off his skin because of the dried blood. He gently arranged her body to give her a sleeping appearance, although with his vision blurred with tears he hadn't succeed very well. Wufei stood over her and said, "You are strong. I know…"

He turned around, not able to say this to her face even though she was now dead. "I know I never told you… but you are. You are strong, and… I am proud that I had you as my wife." Being the proud person that he was, Wufei had a difficult time saying the words out loud, but he meant every last syllable. "I that know I am weak. I am not worthy to be your husband, but I'll try. I'll fight for justice in your place. I promise."

Wufei stood there, his back to the dead girl, for some time before he felt ready to move on.

"Goodbye… Meiran…"

He moved to leave and stopped when he heard, "I told you before to call me NATAKU!!"

Wufei spun around almost losing his balance. The girl was standing in front of him, teeth clenched, eyes flaring. Wufei's mouth dropped open at the sight that met his eyes. The dark haired girl was decaying right in front of him. Her skin seemed to melt off her bones and drip from the ends of her fingers and from her chin.

Blood mixed with the now liquid skin making the colors smear. The smell of rotting flesh met his nose and Wufei felt like he would gag. She took a step forward and he stepped back, tripping over a stone. Before he could catch his balance, Wufei tumbled backward onto the ground. His eyes squeezed shut as his back and head connected painfully with the hard ground.

Gasping with the pain, Wufei forced his eyes open and sat up quickly...

...and found himself sitting on hard packed dirt in the middle of nowhere.

* * *

Rain sprinkled on the window as Trowa cracked open the door to Heero's room and looked inside. Heero was still lying on the bed and Duo was sitting on the chair beside the bed. Correction… Duo was about to fall off the chair near the bed. Opening the door fully, Trowa walked quietly into the room. It didn't take long to figure out what had happened within the last half hour. Picking up the bottle of tablets, Trowa opened the lid and looked inside.

There were two missing.

Trowa sighed and looked over at the unconscious Duo who had a small line of drool coming from his mouth. Putting down the bottle, Trowa leaned over to make sure Duo was alright. Two Hydrocodone of such a high dose could mean bad news for someone Duo's size. Didn't the idiot ever listen?

Finding no sign of overdose, Trowa stood up straight and folded his arms. Duo was no idiot. Trowa knew this and yet he couldn't help putting the other pilot down. Trowa lifted a hand and covered his face.

What the hell is wrong with me?

Trowa slid the hand covering his face up to comb back his bangs, then looked down at the other boy on the bed and his eyes locked with Heero's. Trowa dropped his hand and looked quickly to Duo and back to Heero.

"You're awake," Trowa whispered. Heero said nothing to this obvious statement and moved his eyes to look at Duo then back to Trowa.

Trowa realized Heero must have been awake when he had entered the room and had seen Trowa count the tablets then check Duo. Trowa moved his gaze to Duo and shook his head. "Duo will be fine. He just needs to sleep for a bit." Trowa looked back at Heero and frowned. "We checked the attic; we didn't find anyone up there, but… well…" Trowa hesitated, not knowing if he should tell Heero about the strange happenings in the attic.

Heero looked toward Duo and Trowa thought the other pilot looked worried for a moment, but then the look on Heero's face changed to confusion, then guilt before looking away.

Guilt?

Had Heero done something to Duo?

"Heero?" Trowa asked hesitantly. "Is something wrong?" When he didn't respond, Trowa knelt down near the bed and gently touched his shoulder. "Heero?"

Heero inhaled deeply before whispering sadly, "I don't want anything bad to happen to Duo, but… there's nothing I can do… I said I would do what he asked… I can't help Duo… I can't…"

Trowa opened his mouth to speak, but couldn't find any words. The guilt Trowa had been feeling increased at Heero's words. He should have apologized to Duo… Why hadn't he? Maybe Heero did care for Duo. Maybe the two did have a chance…

Maybe…

Trowa's teeth clenched together as jealousy suddenly stabbed at his heart. It wasn't fair. Why couldn't he have a chance with the one he loved? Why wasn't Duo being pushed away the way Trowa had? His eyes narrowed and his gaze slid towards Duo. Quatre cares for Duo more than me... Trowa thought angrily.

"He's not the one," Trowa heard Heero say.

Trowa turned his gaze to Heero, who was now looking at him. "What?"

"He's not the one you are supposed to want to eliminate," Heero said flatly. All of the caring emotion Heero had shown moments before was gone.

Trowa stood and whispered, "I don't know what you're talking about."

"You just don't want to know what I'm talking about, but you know… deep in here you know," Heero said, pointing to his head.

Trowa cocked his head and peered closer at the other pilot. Something seemed… different… but Trowa couldn't put a finger on what it could be. He shifted his feet nervously. There was definitely something different about Heero and whatever it was felt strangely familiar.

Suddenly the image of a steel door being opened and darkness beyond flashed into Trowa's mind. He paled at the memory of the feeling he'd had when he'd neared the door. Trowa lifted both hands to his head. There was a man... a soldier...

"Didn't you know?" Heero asked quietly, bringing Trowa away from the unwanted memories.

Trowa turned his head slightly and looked at Heero, his brow crinkling in confusion. "Wha…?"

"They need you to keep him from finding the truth."

Trowa just stared at Heero. They? Him? What? As Trowa continued to gaze at Heero, the feeling he'd had felt when he was near… that thing… in his dream came back to him. Not as strongly, but the feeling was there. And with that feeling, Trowa found something in Heero's eyes that made him step backwards in shock.

Quickly, Trowa spun around and looked into the mirror above the dresser. It was there as well. The look. It was in Trowa's own eyes, but not like Heero's eyes. No. Heero was much worse. Is this why Quatre is so afraid of me? But when? When did it happen? How? Trowa slammed his palms against his head, trying to think, trying to understand. He turned a wild look back to Heero, as a thought came unbidden to his mind.

He went through the door...

Trowa began walking backwards while shaking his head. I will NOT be used, Trowa thought, though he didn't know where the thought came from. Heero stared at him, but said nothing more. I'm not like him. I'm not! It's not like that! Trowa thought in despair, knowing he was partially lying to himself. Even though it wasn't strongly obvious, he had the same look in his eyes that Heero did.

Madness.

"I'm not like you. I'm not. I'm not!" Trowa screamed; unaware that he had tears making tracks down his cheeks. When Heero said nothing, Trowa rushed out of the room slamming the door shut behind him.

* * *

Duo walked between the pews of the church. His footsteps echoed loudly in the large room. The boy stopped and glanced at one of the night darkened windows and his ten-year-old reflection looked back at him. Beyond his reflection, Duo saw the shape of a man walking past the window and, feeling a chill go through his body, he wrapped his arms around himself.

Whatever was out there was evil. He could feel it. Duo knew he shouldn't be frightened. After all… Evil can only get you if you let it in, or if you follow it to where it resides(1), and Duo had no inclinations about letting in whatever was out there.

Duo turned his head back to face the direction he was going, back to the candles that were the only light in the room. The boy began walking again, this time with a quickened pace, not wanting to be outside of the small pool of light cast by the three lit candles.

When he reached the candles, Duo gazed sadly at them.

Father Maxwell… Sister Helen… Solo… The names flitted through Duo's mind and left just as quickly.

The ten-year-old boy frowned, thinking he just missed something important. On impulse, Duo picked up one of the candles and used it to light another one.

For me…

He stared at it for a few minutes, drawn in by the flame. Then he lit another one.

For Quatre…

Duo's brow crinkled. He wasn't sure who Quatre was, but Duo suddenly felt worry for this person. If only he could help somehow… As if he were in a trance, Duo lit another candle.

For Wufei…

Again, another person the ten-year-old didn't know, although the name did seem familiar. Duo turned his head, and looked over his shoulder into the darkness. Who ever this person was, he was out there… somewhere… lost…

Frowning, Duo turned back to the candles and reached out to light another.

For Trowa…

Suddenly Duo felt angry and hurt, but again, he didn't know why. Duo's eyes narrowed as he looked at the candle. It was sputtering and the flame was smaller than the flames on the other candles. It was as if the flame could go out any moment. Duo bit the inside of his cheek as he felt the need to light one more candle. Slowly, Duo stretched out his arm and touched the flame of the candle he was holding to the un-lit wick of one of the others.

For Heero…

The candle wouldn't light.

Duo frowned and touched the unlit wick with his candle again.

The candle still wouldn't light.

A sudden sharp fear came over him and Duo frantically tried another candle then another with no success. As he held the candle in his now shaking hand, the boy sniffed and realized he was crying. Duo reached up with his free hand to wipe away the tears when he heard the shout.

"I'm not like you. I'm not. I'm not!"

Duo whipped around and searched the darkness franticly. The shout seemed close in his mind, as if the one screaming were next to him. His ears, however, told him that the scream was far away, outside the walls of the sanctuary. The boy's heart beat wildly in his chest and he felt nauseous. As Duo searched, his eyes once again fell on one of the windows and he gasped. The man… the evil man… was out there… staring in the window. The only thing Duo could make out was the eyes. The eyes looked greedily at him.

Let us in… a voice sounded in Duo's mind.

He tightened his grip on the candle and he shook his head. He wanted to run, wanted to hide, but he couldn't make his legs move. The eyes held him.

I have chosen you… you will let me in…

Again Duo shook his head. Bile rose in his throat as the air filled with a horrible laughter. First it was only one. A man laughing. Then his voice was joined by others.

You cannot hide forever. We will strip you of your protection. Then you will be MINE.

Duo dropped the candle and fell to his knees. Covering his ears with his hands he shook his head violently and said, "No. No. No. No. No," over and over again. Tears dripped off his face and onto the stone floor of the chapel.

A loud crack of thunder jolted Duo's eyes open…

…and he sat up straight in the chair.

Breathing hard, Duo wildly looked around the room trying to understand where he was. The room was small and dimly lit. He stood quickly and fell back into his chair as the room seemed to spin. Closing his eyes, Duo dropped his face into his hands. He felt numb and nauseated. All he wanted to do was lie down and sleep.

Sleep? No. He didn't want to sleep. His body wanted to sleep. The dream was already beginning to fade, but the feelings weren't. The fear from the dream compounded with the fear he'd felt in the attic and Duo rose slowly and made his way toward the light switch. Leaning on the wall, Duo flicked the light switch on.

Nothing.

Duo looked at the ceiling. A desire to rip the bulb out of its socket and smash it filled his mind, and only the drugged up feeling kept him from acting out his desire. Slowly though, he realized the room wasn't completely dark. There was a small light source that he hadn't noticed before. Walking slowly to the dresser, Duo touched the laptop that sat near the mirror. The flat screen was inched open, letting a bit of light escape into the room.

Impossible, Duo thought as he stared at the machine. It had been broken beyond repair. There was no way it could still be working...

Slowly Duo opened the laptop and stared at the screen where he found a short message.

He knew.

He always knew.

He just didn't know everything.

The other one is not doing what we had hoped.

The bitch must be stopped before he can find out the truth.

He has the ability to stop me.

Deal with him.

Duo blinked at the screen.

The bitch?

A memory from the attic came to Duo's mind.

"He's not a bitch!"

Duo put a hand to his head and opened his eyes wider as he turned and leaned his back against the dresser; trying to comprehend everything. That was when he realized…

Heero's bed was empty.

* * *

1) "Evil can only get you if you let it in, or if you follow it to where it resides" this doesn't follow any specific religion's belief that I know of, it just worked well for the story. I think I remember reading a story once where the "monster, evil thing, whatever" couldn't come in unless you invited it… I don't know. If anyone knows anything about this, please tell me.


	13. Love and hate

**Dead Ground**

**13**

**Love and Hate**

Quatre huddled in the darkness and listened to the sound of the rain beating against the window. Occasionally the room would fill with light after a particularly loud clap of thunder. The room was cold and the blankets brought no relief from the chill. The temperature in the room, however, couldn't compare with the chill in Quatre's heart.

Only now was he realizing how stupid and weak he was. His friends were in danger, and it could have been avoided if Quatre hadn't been so afraid. He grabbed his head and squeezed his eyes shut in his emotional agony.

I knew there was something here… I knew… but I didn't want to face it… it was just too much… I should have told them… What was I thinking…?

Quatre felt trapped. Knowing was one thing… doing something about it was something different. The fear he felt was very real and he knew whatever was residing in the cabin was also real, not just a figment of his imagination.

He glanced over at the blanket covering the mirror. Knowledge is power, but gaining that power could be dangerous. Did he dare try?

Quatre's thoughts were interrupted by footsteps and voices in the living room.

"What are you doing down here?" It was Trowa's voice.

"You already know." Heero's voice.

More footsteps, then silence. Quatre sat up, pulled the covers up to his chin and waited. Soon the conversation continued.

"Get out of my way, Barton."

"No. Whatever you seem to believe is going on… whatever you're talking about… I don't know what it is… and I'm not apart of it. I won't be apart of it," Trowa's voice said firmly, yet there was also a quiver of fear.

Another moment of silence then, "You are right… in a way. You are not bound. You didn't…" Though Heero's voice was emotionless and flat, Quatre felt, amid a jumble of confusing emotions, a deep sadness coming from him… as if he, too, felt trapped. "He was foolish to think you could be controlled when you have such an attachment to…"

"I don't know what happened to you, Yuy," Trowa interrupted. "Hell… I don't really even know what happened to me... but… I'm not going to let you hurt the one I… the one I… love... even if he doesn't love me back."

Quatre could feel hot tears running down his cheeks. Even after everything... Trowa still cared about him… loved him even… Quatre wanted to tell the tall boy that he did care for him, but he didn't move. Caring wasn't enough. Something was wrong with Trowa… he wasn't stable… and this frightened Quatre even more than he was willing to admit.

"This is the way it has to be," Heero said shortly.

"Why? What's going on? What the hell is going on Yuy?" Trowa's voice sounded out, angry and confused.

"I'm not going to explain. Now move. I don't want to kill you if I don't have to."

In the quiet pause that followed Quatre heard Trowa's unspoken answer. He wasn't going to move.

After a moment of heavy silence, Quatre heard the two boys on the other side of the door begin to fight one another. It didn't last long and Quatre could only hope that Heero's injuries weakened him enough that Trowa could have beaten him. He felt a small stab of guilt at the fact that he was wishing for Heero to be injured, but there was no mistaking the reason the Heero was out of his room.

Heavy footsteps sounded outside Quatre's door, then stopped. He could feel his heart pound in his chest and his heavy breathing sounded loud in his ears as the bronze doorknob turned and the door opened.

* * *

Wufei brought his hand up to his forehead and groaned. He felt nauseous from the dream. His muscles ached. His head pounded. His hand throbbed… Wufei brought his hand down away from his head and stared at the large gash. The cut seemed to have quit bleeding, but the scab was so dry that it was in danger of opening with the wrong move.

If only I had something for this… Wufei thought, and a moment later a drop of water landed in his palm.

Blinking, Wufei peered closer at the drop of water then looked up at the sky. Wufei vaguely remembered dark clouds in the distance earlier… Another drop of water fell and hit him on the cheek.

Wufei got to his feet and looked around as the sprinkling rain became a downpour. The cabin wasn't too far from where he stood and he began to make his way toward the only shelter around. Keeping his destination in sight, Wufei didn't notice the fact that his reflection didn't show up in any of the puddles, and as the boy from L-5 passed one particular puddle, a reflection of Quatre made an appearance in the muddy water, walking the other way.

* * *

Quatre sat on the bed, unable to move as the boy who entered his room shut the door and turned to face him. With the light off and the storm outside blocking any moonlight Quatre couldn't make out who the other boy was until he had come half way to the bed. The other boy stopped and stared at him for a moment before whispering, "You know why I'm here."

Heero's soft voice was unmistakable. Quatre nodded, but said nothing. As the other boy continued walking slowly toward the bed, Quatre thought he was going to be sick. Where Trowa had a vague aura of confusion and a touch of lunacy, Heero reeked of wrongness and insanity.

Heero reached down and quickly stripped the blankets from his bed and Quatre felt cold and unprotected, even though the security of the covers hadn't been real to begin with. Heero knelt on the bed and pushed Quatre onto his back. When the other pilot leaned over him, Quatre could see the madness in his comrade's eyes, and beyond that… nothing.

"Heero…" Quatre whispered. "What did you do to Trowa?"

The other boy gazed into Quatre's eyes for a moment, then said flatly, "He's dead."

Quatre felt a feeling of grief and panic spread over him. "I don't believe you," he whispered, his voice quivering. His heart felt as if it was being squeezed and he couldn't keep the tears from coming. "I don't believe you!" Quatre sobbed. "He's not dead! He's not!"

Suddenly Heero backhanded the crying boy, bringing him, at least half way, out of his hysteria.

"You'll be joining him soon enough."

"Heero… why? How could you hurt Trowa…? Why do you want to hurt me?" Quatre, natural peacemaker and negotiator that he was, tried to reason.

Heero climbed onto the bed and straddled Quatre's hips, then, leaning over him, grabbed his arms and pinned them beneath his knees. Quatre could feel scabs on the Heero's knees but didn't take the time to spare them a thought as Heero nuzzled his cheek against his and breathed in deeply.

"Even when you haven't showered for days, you smell so sweet, so innocent. And your skin is so soft…" Heero whispered, bringing his hand up to caress Quatre's other cheek. Suddenly Heero pulled back and backhanded him again. Quatre could feel blood begin to trickle from his nose.

"That's why," Heero grated harshly, his voice rising a bit. "That's why I'll be only too happy to get rid of you. I can't stand being around you… always so fucking caring and compassionate." More tears escaped Quatre's eyes and he gasped as Heero backhanded him again, this time on his other cheek. He could feel intense anger coming from his captor, as he stared into the cobalt blue eyes, then, without warning, the extreme rage emanating from the Japanese boy began to give way to confusion and uncertainty, as if Heero was unsure of what he was doing and why. Then, just as suddenly, these emotions were gone, leaving fear and guilt in its place.

Heero leaned in near Quatre's face again and lightly kissed both of the boy's cheeks. When the pilot of Wing lifted his eyes, Quatre could see tears in them. "I don't want to hurt you Quatre," Heero whispered in a wounded voice. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I didn't want to hurt Trowa and I don't want to hurt Duo…"

As suddenly as the sanity had come, it was gone. Heero's eyes narrowed and as fast as a snake, Heero pressed his lips hard against Quatre's. When he pulled back, Quatre's lips were swollen and throbbing with pain.

"When you meet Barton in the after life you can tell him I got you first," Heero said savagely and Quatre's breathing began to quicken as panic set in. The thought that Heero wouldn't swiftly kill him never entered his mind.

"Heero…" Quatre pleaded. "I know you don't really want to hurt me…"

At that, maniacal laugher came from Heero. "I want you to suffer. I've suffered long enough. Now it's your turn."

"How have…?" Quatre began, but he was cut off when Heero wrapped his hands around his throat.

"How have I suffered?" Heero asked between ragged breaths. "Everybody likes Quatre Winner, you mother fucker. Nobody likes Heero Yuy."

When Quatre's body began its instinctive fight for air, Heero moved his knees to better keep his hands out of the way. Just when Quatre thought he was going to pass out, Heero let go of the other boy's neck and air rushed into Quatre's lungs.

"I hate you," Heero whispered and Quatre cringed at the mix of jealousy and anger coming from his captor. The sound of flesh connecting with flesh sounded loud in the room as Heero backhanded him a fourth time.

Suddenly Heero's hands were back around Quatre's neck. His eyes widened when Heero moved his hips and Heero's hard erection ground against his body. When Heero let go of his throat a second time, Quatre began coughing as the air fought its way into his lungs.

"Don't flatter yourself, Bitch. I'm not going to fuck you. I'm saving that for Duo."

When Quatre began to get his breathing under control he asked, "Do you hate me so much because people like me?"

Quatre immediately decided that was the wrong question to ask, because as soon as the words were out of his mouth, Heero's eyes became slits and the only emotions coming from Heero were fury and a deep pain.

Heero grabbed Quatre's neck again, this time harder than before, his finger nails digging into Quatre's neck and drawing blood. "They don't just like you, they love you! Everybody hates me! People are always trying to do nice things for you, but no one does shit for me! All they do is laugh at me or ignore me or use me!"

Tears dripped from Heero's eyes, un-noticed by either boy, onto Quatre's face as he tightened his grip around Quatre's throat.

* * *

Duo turned on the flashlight and headed down the stairs. With the rain lashing against the windows, combined with the thunder and lightning, Duo had a hard time keeping his heart from pounding heavily in his chest from fright.

The stairs creaked as he made his way down to the first floor. When he stepped off the last step, Duo turned and lifted the light. The beam shone past Wufei's open door and into his room. Duo walked to the doorway, looked inside, and frowned when the beam showed that the Wufei was drenched. Duo almost walked into the room to wake him when he heard talking coming from Quatre's room.

Duo swung his flashlight around and stepped over to Quatre's door when he tripped and landed with a thud on something soft. It was only when Duo turned the flashlight around that he saw that he'd landed on Trowa.

Duo blanched when he saw how beat up the other pilot was. The biggest injury, that Duo could tell, was the large gash on the side of Trowa's head. At least he's breathing, Duo thought as he took off his shirt and tied it tightly around the injured boy's head. That will have to do for now…

It was only a second later that he heard screaming come from the Quatre's room. Duo untangled himself from Trowa, got to his feet, and barged into the room. Duo slapped his hand against the wall, felt for the light switch, and flicked it on when he found it.

The light that shined from the bulb overhead momentarily blinded him, but when his eyes adjusted, the sight of Heero choking Quatre met his eyes. Quickly Duo raced to the bed and pulled Heero off.

"Are you alright?" Duo asked in urgent concern.

Quatre rolled over on the bed, gasping and coughing as he nodded.

Rounding on Heero, Duo exclaimed, "What do you think you're doing?"

Heero looked up at Duo with tears in his eyes. "I… I… I don't know…" Duo watched as Heero dropped his head into his hands and started crying, then looked to Quatre, who was watching Heero with an uneasy expression, then back to Heero, who was sitting at the end of the bed sobbing.

"Shit…" Duo murmured. "Can anyone tell me what the hell is going on here?"

Without warning, Quatre snarled and began kicking Heero with all the effort he could muster. "That's for Trowa!" he croaked, and Duo knew that if he could, Quatre would be yelling. Heero, instead of moving away, moved his hands over his head and let the furious Quatre take his anger out on him.

"Stop it!" Duo yelled, moving to grab Quatre's legs.

"We're all going to die here!" Quatre tried to scream through his injured throat.

"No we're not. Just stop it," Duo said, trying to calm the other pilot.

Suddenly, Quatre stopped and stared at him before saying quietly, "You think I'm crazy…" It wasn't a question. "You think that I must have done something to make Heero attack me…"

"No Qua…"

"You trust Heero… you… you love him…" The last was said in a horrified whisper. Duo opened his mouth to respond but Quatre cut him off. "Duo. Get out."

"What?"

"Get out of this cabin… away from this place… I think you still have a chance. Go now!"

Duo looked in shock at Quatre, then thought, He IS crazy…

Quatre seemed to have sensed what Duo was thinking because he raised his voice and said, "Duo get out now! Go! Get out of here!"

Duo let go of Quatre's legs and moved away as the other pilot started trying to kick him. He grabbed Heero, who by this time was only sniffling, and said, "Come on Heero, let's leave Quatre alone for a while."

"NO!" Quatre tried hard to scream. "Don't take him with you! He's insane! He'll try to…"

"Quatre," Duo said sternly as he led Heero toward the door, "We'll leave tomorrow, alright. Go to sleep and we'll leave tomorrow."

Quatre got off the bed and walked a few paces toward the other two pilots. "It will be too late for you tomorrow!"

"Goodnight Quatre…" Duo said. It was then that Heero, whose face was out of Duo's line of sight, looked at Quatre intently before wrapping an arm around Duo and pulling him closer.

Quatre screamed in rage and rushed forward when he saw a sly smile cross over Heero's face, and Duo moved himself and Heero quickly out of the room and slammed the door shut.

Quatre tried to turn the handle, but it wouldn't budge and he suspected Duo was holding the door shut from the other side. Banging on the door, Quatre yelled, "Duo! Duo! Let me out! Duo!"

Quatre banged his fist on the door again. Duo had to believe him. Heero was going to hurt him, maybe even kill him, like he had tried to do to him… like… Trowa… Quatre's banging slowed, then stopped all together.

Trowa…

A broken sob escaped him. He can't be gone. He just can't… Quatre raised his head. Though tears were running down his cheeks, he had a furious look on his face. He felt so angry. He was angry that Duo wouldn't listen to him. He was angry that he couldn't help Heero or Wufei. He was angry that Trowa was dead. He was angry about being in this situation in the first place.

Quatre felt as though he had been tricked some how and he was angry about that too. Well… I'm not going to keep doing nothing… This is my fault! I shouldn't have been so weak! he thought angrily to himself.

Quatre turned toward the dresser feeling he had nothing to lose, and, after taking a few steps forward, yanked the thin blanket off the mirror. Quatre became even angrier when he saw the condition he was in. His cheeks and throat were swollen and red. His hair was greasy and the rest of his skin that wasn't red and splotchy was pale and sickly looking.

With tears rolling down his face, Quatre positioned himself in front of the mirror and stared at his reflection. Angrily, he slapped his hands against the smooth reflective glass and growled, "Tell me what's going on! Now!"

Quatre gritted his teeth, trying to remain angry and unafraid when his fingers sunk into the mirror and the fingers of a corpse emerged from the glass and clamped down on Quatre's hands. Quatre glared into the face of his reflection and his twin image stared intently back at him.

Quatre squeezed his hands and was revolted to feel something cold and squishy. "Tell me!" Quatre demanded again. Suddenly there was a popping sound from the bulb overhead.

Then darkness.


	14. The truth

**Dead Ground**

**14**

**The Truth**

Drip.

Drip.

It was dark.

Drip.

It was dark and the air was damp.

Drip.

Drip.

The dripping sounded all around him as he walked…

Drip.

…and walked…

Drip.

…and walked…

Drip.

In the darkness he walked.

Drip.

The ground was wet beneath his feet. He knew this because he could feel the cold moisture seeping into his shoes.

Drip.

Drip.

The air smelled faintly of metallic muskiness.

Drip.

Blood?

Drip.

He hoped not.

Drip.

His nose, ears, cheeks, fingers and toes were starting to get numb with the stinging cold.

Drip.

Where am I? he thought.

Drip.

Who am I?

Drip.

With all the splashing he knew he was doing, he thought that there should be some sound other than the incessant dripping that echoed in the darkness.

Drip.

Drip.

He supposed he should feel fear in the darkness… but he didn't.

Drip.

Alone. This was the only emotion he felt as he walked. His heart ached and his eyes felt watery.

Drip.

I just want to die, he thought. It's too much. The loneliness is just too much.

Drip.

Why am I here? Why did I come here…?

Drip.

He dropped to his knees slowly and lowered his head in his hands. I just can't go on… A tear slid down his cheek to his chin and dropped.

Drip… It was loud in his ears. He ran his hand over the wet streak on his face.

Tears?

He lifted his head and looked around.

Drip.

"Hello?" he called out into the darkness, or at least thought he did. His lips moved and he felt the vibrations in his throat, but his ears heard no sound.

Drip.

He began to crawl forward, trying to ignore the loneliness in his heart. The ground beneath his fingers was slimy, wet, and cold. He felt nauseated and when he could take it no more, he leaned over to one side and began to dry heave.

Drip.

It felt like he had been crawling for hours in the muck beneath his hands and knees when he bumped into something hard. He lifted a hand and felt smooth wood under his fingers.

A door?

When he found the door handle, he pulled himself up. He could feel the cold greasy goo slide down his legs from his knees, and down his arms from his hands. It was difficult to fight the nauseating feeling in his stomach.

Drip.

He hesitated. His hand was on the doorknob, but he hesitated. Where would this lead? Would it be worse than where he was now? He didn't think it could be. Here he was surrounded by loneliness and grief. The tears of who knew how many people, echoing around him in the darkness.

Drip.

But this door, with its smooth wood and cool metal handle…

Drip.

No. He would chance it.

He would chance it because if he stayed here… he would die. He would die, because he wouldn't have the heart to go on living. This door might hold some chance for him, whatever that could be he didn't know.

Drip.

He turned the doorknob and opened the door.

* * *

Wufei ran up the wooden stairs that led to the porch surrounding the cabin. Though the porch was open to the elements, it did have a cover to protect it from the sun and rain. Wiping the water from his face, Wufei suddenly realized that his hair tie was missing. Strands of the black shoulder-length hair stuck to his face and neck and he growled in irritation as he detached the sodden strands from his skin and raked the hair back with his fingers.

He looked back the way he'd come, but the rain was now so heavy that it was difficult to see past the porch. The veranda was unimpressive in its state of disrepair. There was an old wooden bench and as tempting as it was to sit down, Wufei didn't think it would hold his weight.

There was a window on each side of the door. They were both streaked with dirt and it was difficult to see in. The cabin was short on one side and longer on the other. On the long side there was another, smaller window past the one near the door.

The kitchen window… The moment the thought came to his head, Wufei knew it was correct. He also realized he knew that the window between the kitchen window and the door would look into the front room and the window on the other side of the door would look in at the stairs.

Wufei put a hand to his head. He wasn't sure how he knew these things… He felt like part of his memory was gone, and he was only getting it back in snatches. His eyes moved to the front door. Maybe he should go inside. After all, it seemed that he had been there before…

"You should leave," came a voice behind Wufei and he spun quickly around to find a small boy, about seven or eight years old, looking at him with a serious expression.

"What?" Wufei asked the boy, who hadn't been there a moment before.

"You should leave," the child repeated.

Wufei looked closer at the boy. He seemed… familiar… The child had dark messy hair and his eyes were an amazing shade of blue. It was obvious that the child was of Japanese heritage, both from the boy's looks and his speech.

"Who are you?" he asked.

The dark-haired child looked confused for a moment then waved a hand. "It doesn't matter who I am. Leave. Now."

Wufei raised an eyebrow at the command, then looked out at the rain. "And where exactly am I supposed to go?"

"Back to where you are."

* * *

When the door opened, he saw that it was night on the other side. Lit torches lined the streets for those who might be out, but he saw no one about. He stepped out and shut the door behind himself. Looking down he could see the cold ooze on his legs and arms. It looked like mud… but he wasn't so sure… Reaching over with his hand, he touched some of the greasy wetness on his other arm. It felt gritty… but it hadn't felt gritty before… It was as if the slime had changed properties when he had come through the door. But… that wasn't possible… was it? Well whatever it was, it hadn't been mud. Mud didn't feel… greasy...

Drip.

Drip.

Startled at the noise, he looked around to find the source of the dripping and found it moments later. Water was dripping from the roof of the… he looked at the structure behind himself… Shack? Hut? House? He wasn't sure what to call it, but water was dripping from the roof into a puddle on the ground.

He felt some satisfaction at putting his hand in the path of the water and stopping, if only for a moment, the dripping. This dripping, at least, sounded normal. It didn't take long for him to notice that the air was damp, although this also felt natural, and there were puddles on the ground as if it had rained recently.

He also noticed, as he looked up and down the road, that there were no lights on in any of the windows. Maybe it was really late? He shrugged. Staying near this shack wasn't doing him any good.

He stepped out from beneath the awning of the house and began down the muddy road, looking at the buildings as he continued on. He was so taken in by his surroundings that he didn't notice the fact that his reflection didn't show in any of the puddles. Nor did he notice the reflection of a Chinese teenager going the other way in the muddy water.

* * *

Back to where I am? What does that mean? Wufei thought.

The child looked around, stepped closer to Wufei and whispered, "They know you are here… He knows you are here…"

Wufei's eyebrows knit together. "Who are they? Who is he?"

The messy-haired boy looked around again then stepped away from Wufei. "I cannot say."

"Cannot or will not?"

* * *

The sounds of a large gathering met his ears and he followed the sound. There were many people, perhaps the whole village, in a large gathering area… the town square…? A low din of excitement rose from the crowd as they waited. A tall man with sandy-blond hair was standing on a raised platform of sorts and he thought that the man would soon address the people. He supposed the man was someone important, for he had a commanding air about him, but the sandy-haired man looked too young to be the mayor or anything like that. Truth be told… the man looked very young… maybe in his early twenties...

There were seven young men… boys really, standing on the platform as well. The looks on their faces showed pride and a type of courage. The feelings he felt from the waiting boys couldn't be more different. Fear and uncertainty seemed to emanate from the boys. It was so strong he was surprised everyone wasn't aware of it.

The voice of the man rang out over the low din of the people and soon the crowd quieted to listen.

"My people… this is an important time. A glorious time, for the Gods will bestow their blessings upon you. You have, once again, graciously offered fine young men to help me in my quest for eternal life. The heavens will reward such generosity on your part and on these young men's part. You have already received great prosperity and you will continue to, you can be sure of it."

The crowd cheered and the boys on the platform began to fidget nervously. The man put up his hands to quiet the crowd, but the lone observer in the back didn't hear the man's next words because a pssst sound came from his side. When he looked over, a boy about fourteen or fifteen years of age was beckoning to him.

"You must get away!" the boy whispered fiercely.

"Get away?"

"Yes! Get way! This town is cursed. Please believe me…" The boy looked pleadingly at him to understand. "Those people won't listen to me. They've been brainwashed for years… even since before I was born… but I know the truth. I do!"

He looked closely at the other boy. The teenager was gangly and of a medium height. Large ears stuck out from under shaggy red hair, and bright green eyes begged to be taken seriously.

"You are like me… I can tell. It isn't safe for you here… just like it isn't safe for me…" the red-haired boy continued.

"What do you mean I'm like you and why isn't it safe for us?"

The green-eyed boy tilted his head slightly, as if to get a better look at the person he was speaking with. "I have… dreams… sometimes… Sometimes I dream of things before they happen. Sometimes… but… you are like me. I can feel it… in here." The boy pointed at his chest, right over where his heart was.

"I still don't understand. How am I like you?"

"You feel things from other people… feelings. Sometimes you know things that other people don't know. I know you do because I can feel it!"

The crowed became noisy again for a moment and the gangly boy waited until they were quiet before continuing.

"That man…" The teenager pointed toward the crowd. "He is dangerous. Those guys up there with him are going to die. He chooses one of them… I don't know how it works… but he chooses one and he becomes that person. Only in body though. It's like he removes the soul somehow and takes over."

"What about the other boys?"

The red-haired teenager frowned. "They die… they die, but they still follow him. Even in death they follow him. They become part of him somehow. It's all so confusing, I really don't understand it, but I can feel it! I can feel it and he hates me because of it. I've tried to tell the people but they don't listen to me. They think I'm crazy, but I'm not. I swear it."

"Why don't you leave this place?"

"I can't. I don't know anything about surviving outside of a town and we are far away from… well, anywhere. I'm bound to this place… maybe I can do something to stop this… but I don't know what… It's frightening… the place he takes them to." The green-eyed boy pointed and his listener turned around.

His mouth dropped open.

Among the shanties and shacks of the village stood…

…the cabin.

* * *

When the Japanese boy didn't answer, Wufei sighed. It was all so… confusing. It was frustrating… this feeling of something missing… of not knowing…

Wufei looked down at the boy. "Why are you here?"

The child looked past the porch at the rain and seemed lost in thought for some time, or maybe, Wufei thought, perhaps, the boy didn't know why here was here…

"I'm waiting," came an unsteady reply after several minutes.

Wufei looked closer at the boy and saw a tear slide down the blue eyed boy's cheek.

"What's wrong?" Wufei asked in concern.

The boy's lower lip began to tremble slightly. "I don't wanna do it…" he whispered.

Wufei's eyebrows knit together. "You don't want to do what?"

But the Japanese boy seemed not to hear and continued to whisper, though Wufei didn't think the boy was talking to him any longer. "I don't wanna… please don't make me. Please…"

"I'm sure everything will be alright…" Wufei began, trying to help.

Suddenly, the child turned and cried angrily, "No! It won't be alright. You don't know anything. You shouldn't even be here…" The child's tirade stopped suddenly and the boy's eyes seemed to go out of focus for a moment. When the dark-haired boy looked at Wufei, he looked afraid and a haunted look filled the boy's eyes.

"It's time…" the boy whispered.

* * *

His mouth fell open and he whispered, "I know that place..." He did know that place, but he wasn't sure where… everything was all jumbled in his mind. He turned and caught the green eyes of the other boy.

"Somehow, I'm going to stop this… even if it destroys the whole town. It's better for one town to be lost then have that man alive and free to go where he wants in the world…" the red haired boy said.

"Do you have a plan?"

"Yes." The boy held up a hand. "Don't ask me to explain. It isn't important." The gangly boy looked gravely into his eyes. "Listen to me. This is really important." The green eyed boy grabbed his listener by the shoulders. "If you don't remember anything else, remember this. You aren't really here. Do you understand? You must not come here. You must stay away."

He lifted his hands as if to grab the gangly boy's arms. When he did, the red-haired boy let go and grabbed onto the hands, weaving his fingers with the other boy's and pulled him close so that their eyes were inches from one another. "Don't forget!" The green-eyed boy whispered savagely, then let go of the other's hands, pressed his palms against the other boy's and pushed.

He felt himself fall and the world went black.

* * *

The Japanese boy walked past Wufei and over to the door of the cabin. Reluctantly the small child placed his hand on the doorknob. Without turning around the boy said, "If you value your life… your freedom… your… sanity… don't follow me. Go back to where you are…"

Wufei watched the boy open the door and walk into the darkness beyond. The closing of the door was silent, yet it seemed to echo loudly in his ears. He walked to the short side of the veranda, peered into the dirty window, and could barely see the stairs in the dark recesses of the cabin.

Without warning, two figures appeared in the window. One of the figures had a long braid and was helping the other figure who seemed to be in pain or afraid. Suddenly the second figure turned and looked at Wufei making him gasped.

It was the boy who he had just been talking with… only… this boy looked to be around Wufei's age… Wufei felt a shiver go down his spine at the dark look coming from the deep blue eyes. The Japanese boy turned away as the two figures started up the stairs, and within moments the two were swallowed in the darkness.

I don't wanna… please don't make me… The words from the child echoed in Wufei's head.

Something bad was going to happen to the braided one. He was sure of it… He was also sure that he knew both of the figures… even though he couldn't think of where he knew them from.

Determined to help, Wufei strode to the wooden entrance of the cabin, opened the door and disappeared in the darkness beyond.


	15. The Cross and the Door

**Dead Ground**

**15**

**The Cross and the Door**

Pain.

It was the first sensation Trowa had as the world rudely reminded him that he was still alive.

His head ached terribly. With every breath his lungs burned and he couldn't seem to get enough air.

He took an unnatural amount of time thinking about the feel of the cold wooden floor beneath his body. It was hard, yet it felt strangely comfortable. It was all so… strange. He felt as if his mind was floating, not really grasping on to anything.

Suddenly, a creaking sound drew the attention of his mind. It sounded like a door opening. The sound and smell of rain swept over his senses as a breeze hit his body. Slowly, Trowa opened his eyes and waited while the room came into focus, or rather, while the ceiling came into focus. It was then that he realized he was lying on his back.

In a long, drawn out motion, Trowa reluctantly sat up. Nausea overpowered him as the room spun and his abused stomach gave up the remnants of what was left from his last meal. The pain in his abdomen, though wrenchingly severe, wasn't enough to allow him to pass out again. Groaning, he wiped his mouth on the sleeve of his shirt.

The sound of a door slamming shut caused him to flinch. His head swung up like a startled deer and again the world swam. Trowa blinked rapidly and willed the room to stay in one spot. His eyes wondered around the room looking for the one who had opened the door.

No one was there.

Trowa's eyes narrowed and he croaked a pitiful, "Hello?"

The sound seemed to reverberate in his wounded chest, causing the sharp pain he was already feeling to intensify. Wincing, Trowa brought his hand up and touched his chest gingerly. Broken ribs. He wasn't sure how many were injured and thought that perhaps he should have Sally take a look at it for him.

But…

Trowa stopped his gentle probing.

But… how did I get broken ribs? What happened to me?

Try as he might, Trowa couldn't seem to come up with an answer, and the more he thought about it the more his head hurt. Slowly, he moved his hand up to touch his head and found some sort of cloth wrapped around his head.

A shirt?

The mystery was deepening, yet he didn't have the presence of mind to really think too much about it. All that mattered at the moment was the fact that he had obviously been severely beaten, and perhaps he wasn't the only one… He needed to find some one to get more information. He needed to…

His line of thought suddenly stopped as his eyes stopped on the door next to him. The dry cracked wood was more than speckled with blood… Most likely, it was his blood, Trowa concluded. He reached out his hand toward the door, but it was too far out of his reach.

Quatre…

It was Quatre's door…

Was he alright?

With all the strength he could summon, Trowa crawled the short distance to Quatre's door, reached up and grabbed the doorknob, and slowly pulled himself to a standing position. He swallowed and knocked softly on the door.

"Quatre?" he called softly.

No answer.

Trowa cleared his throat. "Quatre?" This time just a bit louder.

Still no answer.

With his hand still on the knob, Trowa rested his head gently against the heavy wooden door as he tried to decide what to do. Go in and possibly risk more of Quatre's wrath or not go in and risk Quatre being hurt and needing help.

Pressing his lips together, Trowa made his decision and turned the knob.

* * *

When they finally made it to Heero's room, Duo helped him to the bed before going back to close the door. As he closed it, Duo felt a shiver go up his spine as if he had just sealed his only escape. Yet… he didn't want to escape did he? Such a ridiculous thought. He only shivered because he didn't have a shirt on. It was then that Duo remembered Trowa.

Duo looked back at Heero. "I should probably go check on Trowa… He was in pretty bad shape…" You don't need to tell him that! His mind screamed. He's the one who did it! Duo just shook his head, and turned toward the door. He didn't want to think of that right now. It just made things so much more… complicated.

Heero looked up, eyes wide and hurt. "You're going to leave me here… alone?" he whispered.

"Well I should…"

"Why?" Heero interrupted. "He doesn't deserve your help. Not after all the horrible things he said."

Duo opened his mouth then closed it. How does he know that…? Was he awake when... no. No. I know he wasn't. Then how…?

He turned around fully and looked at Heero. Could Quatre have been right? There did seem to be something… odd about him. But it was nothing Duo could point out, just a sense of something not quite right.

It wasn't just the fact that Heero's usually calm, stony demeanor was now so needy and frightened since the attic incident that afternoon. No. It was something else… something different… something… new…

Duo walked to the bed where Heero sat looking up at him. A bruise was already starting to form on his smooth tan cheek from Quatre's kicking. It seemed to make Heero more vulnerable in a way. Duo had the sudden desire to reach up and touch the other boy's cheek, to caress it slowly, and maybe…

He closed his eyes and shook his head again. He needed to clear his head. He wasn't helping anyone by thinking thoughts that were better left to when he was alone. Sighing, Duo opened his eyes and looked down at Heero.

"Okay. I need some answers. I need to know what the hell is going on with you." Heero looked down at his hands and shrugged. Sighing again, Duo plopped down on the bed next to Heero. "Come on buddy. This ain't like you at all." A pause, then, "Is it what happened in the attic?" Heero seemed to tense up for a moment before shaking his head in a negative motion. "Then what is it? Let me help… please…"

Heero looked up with anguished eyes. "Duo… Do you… Do you care for me?"

Duo blinked at the unexpected question. "Well, yes of course I do…" he answered, not really sure how much he should tell his friend.

"How? How do you care for me?"

Duo's mouth opened, but he said nothing. The perfect opportunity to let Heero know how he felt about him, and Duo couldn't find the words… or the courage…

Dark blue eyes tightened in pain at Duo's silence and looked away.

"Heero…" Duo whispered. "I'm… I'm afraid to tell you… I don't want to lose your friendship or… have you think bad of me… I…" He blew out his breath, wishing that he didn't sound like such a fucking sissy. Just tell him! Or at least make some sort of a move! His mind shouted at him. He asked how you felt! If he didn't want to know, he wouldn't have asked!

I'll do it, Duo thought resolutely to himself and reached his hand over toward the other boy.

* * *

When the door slammed shut, Wufei spun around and grabbed the doorknob, trying to reopen the heavy wooden door, but with no success. The knob was slippery, but even so, Wufei was strong enough to get a good grip and turn the knob a fraction.

Locked...

His heart was pounding in his chest and his breathing was labored as he tried to get a hold on himself. Hands still on the doorknob, Wufei rested his head on the door, but quickly reared back when he felt the same cold, slippery substance on the door that was on the knob. The fluid began running down Wufei's forehead and to the bridge of his nose before he reached up and wiped it off with the back of his hand.

Bringing his hand away from his head, Wufei looked intently at his hand, but couldn't tell what the goo on his hands was. The light from the dirty windows was minimal, and his eyes still hadn't adjusted very well to the darkness of the cabin's interior. He touched his fingers together and moved them apart, feeling the stickiness. Slowly he brought the hand to his nose and sniffed. His eyes opened wide and he moved his hand away quickly.

Blood...

A dawning awareness came to him then. It wasn't just the slime on his hand that smelled like blood. The air in the cabin was heavy with the stink of death. A deep chill settled over him as if a bucket of ice water had been poured over his head.

Slowly, Wufei turned around. At first he saw nothing, but slowly the room emerged from the oppressive blackness, and revealed itself to his adjusting sight. His eyes widened and his mouth opened. The view before him was rank and nauseating, and it only took a few seconds for the sight to become too revolting for him to bear. Dropping involuntarily to his hands and knees, Wufei lost control and vomited.

* * *

The door creaked as Trowa hesitantly pushed it open. The stale air smelled of sweat and grime. The room was dark and even as Trowa reached to turn on the light, he knew he would find the switch on…

Sighing, both in pain and in frustration, Trowa opened the door wide hoping to let in what little light crept in from the filthy living room windows. In the gloomy blackness, he saw a thin figure standing, arms stretched out, and palms pressed flat against the mirror. He didn't need a light to know who it was.

"Quatre?" he croaked.

No response.

Trowa opened his mouth to try again, but decided against it. Instead, he pounded against the door three times with his fist and succeeded in making much more noise then his injured lungs would have allowed.

Still no response.

He leaned heavily against the doorframe, wanting nothing more than to give in and let himself slip back into the quiet oblivion from which he had just come from. The pain was intense, and his body screamed for relief. Yet his heart, which yearned to reach his friend, won out and Trowa straightened, preparing to shuffle into the room.

Suddenly, the figure in front of him began to fall backwards, as if pushed by someone unseen. Acting on instinct and adrenaline, Trowa bolted forward and caught Quatre in his arms. Unfortunately, the burst of energy wasn't enough to give Trowa the strength he needed to support them both and his legs gave out, sending them both crashing to the floor.

* * *

When Duo's hand connected with Heero's shoulder, he started slightly and looked up.

"I… I do… care… for you…" Duo said in shaking breaths.

Heero's eyebrows knit together as he searched Duo's face. Duo held his breath.

What will he say now? What will he do? Was I right or wrong? Maybe he'll just ignore me or something and give me the glare… I wish he'd do something… Duo's thoughts ran wild. He was so nervous that he thought his heart would explode from his chest…

"You do?" The response was so quiet and sincere that Duo didn't know what to say. The tone was so different from what he had been experiencing from Heero for the last part of the day, yet… it was different from Heero's normal tone too…

Duo opened his mouth to speak, but realized his throat was too dry. Instead, he closed his mouth and just nodded.

Heero's eyes left Duo's face and seemed to stare past him—almost blankly. Jerkily, Duo turned his head to see what Heero was looking at, but saw nothing out of the ordinary. When he turned his head back, his friend's eyes were once again on him. Eyes that suddenly had an earnestness in them…

"Then leave."

Duo blinked. "What?"

"Leave. Leave now," Heero said in a quiet, rushed voice.

Duo raised an eyebrow. "What are you…"

Heero waved Duo to silence. "Quatre… He… He's right… Please Duo… I… I care for you too… and I don't want anything to happen to you."

"No," Duo said stubbornly. He wouldn't leave Heero. There was something obviously wrong with his friend and Duo couldn't—wouldn't—go. He wanted to be there for Heero. Besides, He knew Heero didn't really want him to leave. It was probably some stupid test to prove that Duo really did care.

A panicked look crossed Heero's face. "Please," Heero pleaded. "I don't want to follow this plan. I… I hate this…"

Duo shook his head. "What are you talking about?"

Heero didn't seem to hear him as he continued to ramble brokenly. "I… I don't … want to… to do … it…"

Deciding he didn't have anything to lose, and thinking it might be the nicest way to get Heero to calm down, Duo leaned over, wrapped his arm around Heero and pulled him close. When their lips met, Duo did not notice Heero's body stiffen then relax. Nor did he notice, after closing his eyes, the frightened, panicked look in Heero's eyes change…

Change to be more sure…

More… calculating…

All he noticed was Heero's arms slowly wrapping around him and the firmness of Heero's lips against his as he returned the kiss.

* * *

THUMP

Wufei's head jerked up at the unexpected noise. It sounded as if someone was banging on a door.

THUMP

Vomit dripped from his lips and off the tips of his loose, wet hair.

THUMP

He spit onto the floor, trying to get the last of the puke from his mouth, wishing he could banish the taste. He slowly wiped his mouth on his sleeve and stood up. It was only then that he realized the floor had been wet as well. A sickening sucking sound met his ears as he removed his hands from the floor. Sticky wetness dripped from his knees and down his legs as he stood upright.

Looking around he saw nothing that could have made the thumping noises. Yet, that really didn't mean much since the interior of the cabin was dusky and shadows loomed everywhere. Being a Gundam pilot had hardened him against many things, but the sight before him…

He struggled to keep from losing control again.

Bodies lined the inside of the cabin.

Corpses.

Rotting…

Some were so far gone as to show mostly bones, yet the skin still dripped from most. The humid atmosphere in the cabin keeping the bodies wet. He took another look around for the source of the 'thumps' before walking toward the first of the cadavers. It was a teenage boy. Wufei looked around at the other corpses.

They were all teenage boys…

Looking back at the dead boy in front of him, Wufei took quick note of the condition of the body and concluded that the boy had been beaten to death; the bruises and cuts were still visible on the pale flesh. Wufei also noticed that there were no maggots on the body. He looked up again, cocked his head and listened.

No flies…

Strange…

He had been to quite a few battlefields after the dust had cleared and seen many dead bodies. There were always insects…

Always something to feed off the fallen…

But here…

Nothing…

Nothing living…

Nothing but himself…

A creak sounded toward the kitchen and Wufei looked up, peering into the darkness. His heart began to thud loudly in his chest.

Another creak.

Something was there.

And then he heard it…

Just a whisper, yet the sound made his blood run cold and for a moment his rapidly pounding heart stopped.

…Wufei…

It was her.

* * *

Trowa groaned. Once again, he found himself lying on the hard wooden floor, only this time with Quatre lying on top of him. The other boy may have been thin, but he felt like a ton of bricks. His broken ribs protested against the unwelcome pressure and with all the strength he could summon, Trowa rolled Quatre off him.

The effort left him feeling winded. He breathed in jaggedly, each intake of air producing a sharp pain. Slowly, Trowa moved his eyes to where Quatre was lying next to him. He could only see his back, having dumped his friend onto his side.

Suddenly, Trowa wanted nothing more than to see Quatre's face. Weakly, he reached over and pulled at Quatre's side to get him to roll onto his back. Unfortunately, Trowa's minor effort wasn't enough. Feeling frustrated at his lack of strength, the pain, and at not being able to see what he so much wanted, Trowa sat up slightly and put his weight on the side of the other boy.

Slowly, Quatre moved to the position Trowa desired, and felt strangely satisfied, as if he had conquered the world. He could die happy now… and die he would, he was sure of it. But at least he could die looking at the one he loved.

Trowa felt himself begin to slip into unconsciousness, when Quatre's voice summoned his mind from the blackness.

"Remember…" Quatre muttered.

What? Remember? Remember what? Trowa thought.

"If nothing else… remember…"

Slowly Trowa moved his hand to touch Quatre's. Not that he had any false hopes that his touch would wake him, but he just wanted to touch his friend, because he knew he could do nothing for him.

Suddenly Quatre's eyes snapped open and he sat bolt upright, with a shout.

"Duo!"

* * *

The desire to help his friend slowly began to be replaced as Duo felt another desire; this one burning hot and urgent—an immediate need that had to satisfied. He pushed Heero down on the bed, and awkwardly moved to a kneeling position over him.

Need.

He needed Heero.

Heero moved one hand down Duo's shirtless back and tightened his grip.

Duo had wanted this for so long…

So long…

He trailed his kisses down Heero's neck, sucking gently in a few tender spots.

Need.

Kisses were nice, but they weren't fulfilling his need.

Urgently Duo reached down and unbuttoned his pants, then Heero's. A small moment of sanity came and Duo looked at Heero, who looked back at him, mirroring Duo's own desire. He leaned his head down, intending to whisper into Heero's ear when the cross that hung from his neck smacked Heero in the face.

Duo blinked at it; surprised to see it. He had forgotten somehow that his shirt wasn't there to hold the golden pendent back. It gleamed brightly in the light cast from the laptop on the dresser. Duo raised his head slightly and watched as the religious symbol swung slowly in front of Heero's face.

Back and forth…

Back and forth…

It was as if Duo were in a trance; mesmerized by the sight…

"Take it off…"

Duo looked again at the teen beneath him. Heero's hand was palm up as if asking Duo to give it to him. Several things bombarded Duo's mind at once. Need… The cross… The insanity of what was happening… He grabbed onto the cross, feeling the sides dig into his palm, and stared at Heero.

"Duo…" Heero whispered.

"Duo…" He could hear the voice from where he hid under the pew. It was from the outside… from the darkness beyond the chapel walls… Yet he felt as if he knew this voice. Duo's ten year old eyes peaked out to the heavy wooden door that lead to the outside… Should he open it?

Duo's eyes moved to stare blankly at the cross in his hand.

The cross…

Heero…

"Duo… Don't you care about me? Please…" Heero whispered pleadingly.

The boy crept to the door. He could hear the rain pounding on the other side of the door. He knew IT was out there… The thing… the evil…

But…

The voice…

He knew it; though he couldn't place it… it was a friend…

Duo put his hand on the smooth metal of the doorknob, but hesitated.

"Duo… Don't you care about me? Please…" came the pleading whisper.

Duo slowly raised the chain, pausing only momentarily before slipping over his head.

Duo slowly turned the knob, pausing only momentarily before turning the knob completely and cracking the door open.

As if in a trance, he lowered the chain into Heero's palm, then looked into the other teen's eyes.

Cautiously, he peeked out into the storm. It was dark but the slight illumination from the candles within the church slightly lit his visitor's face and he saw the most beautiful blue eyes he had ever seen.

Suddenly Heero's hand tightened around the chain and he pushed him off balance and onto his back. Duo seemed not to notice, his eyes far away. Heero snarled menacingly as he roughly turned Duo onto his stomach. Quickly, Heero stripped the pants off both himself and Duo.

Heero's breath was labored as he eyed Duo hungrily. Roughly, Heero ran his free hand over Duo's rear before forcing two of his fingers into him.

The boy looked familiar in some strange way that Duo couldn't place. The intense look the boy gave him sent a chill down his spine.

'Who are you?' Duo thought.

Suddenly, a fierce gust of wind hit him and he was knocked to the floor, the door swinging out of his grasp is it was flung open.

Heero grimaced and withdrew his brutally probing fingers. His eyes darted about the room for something liquid… something thick… something…

His eyes rested on the cross he held in his hand. Clenching his teeth together, Heero stabbed his arm with the long part of the object. Tightening his hold on the pendent, Heero moved the metal down the length of his arm. Blood flowed from the long, jagged cut almost instantly. Seeing no further need for the cross, he threw it on the floor and lifted his arm over the other boy.

With his hand now free of the pendant, Heero wiped his hand across his arm and applied the thick wetness on his cock.

After a few moments, Heero positioned himself between Duo's now blood soaked cheeks.

"Duo… Let me in…" he whispered as he tried to push into the other boy.

"Duo… Let me in…" Duo looked up from where he had fallen.

'Why doesn't he just come inside?' Duo wondered, but didn't make any move to invite the other boy in.

Heero's eyes narrowed when he felt the resistance. Lying down fully on the other boy, Heero slipped his arms under Duo to get a good grip on his manhood and whispered into Duo's ear, "Duo… Please let me in…"

"Duo… Please let me in…" The boy lifted his hand and his voice was almost a plea. Duo stood and walked toward the door. He looked at the hand the boy held out and started when he saw it was covered in blood. With wide eyes, Duo looked up at the boy who seemed unconcerned about the gore. The ten-year-old looked past the small dark-haired boy in front of him, and out into the darkness. The candles' light didn't extend past the boy, and the deepness of the darkness sent a cold chill through his body.

Should he let the boy in?

Was the boy in danger from the evil too?

Duo's eyes met the boy's

Heero smiled slightly as he felt the resistance begin to give.

Duo reached out to the boy and took the bloody hand. He stepped back, slowly letting the other boy in.

A malicious grin spread across Heero's face as he felt himself completely enter Duo, but it wasn't enough just to know that he was in…

Once the other boy had crossed the thresh hold of the building he pushed Duo back, knocking him to the floor, causing him to cry out…

Savagely, Heero pushed into Duo and a small cry escaped Duo's lips…

He needed…

A darkness seemed to enter the chapel and Duo looked fearfully up at the boy. The darkness had entered with him… It wasn't him, but it had come with him…! The door slammed shut and the darkness began to spread. Duo franticly tried to scramble away, but the boy malevolently grabbed a hold of him, keeping him from escaping.

Harder…

Deeper…

It was all Heero could think of…

The need driving him was so great…

Duo tried to kick the other boy away, but it was almost impossible. He looked up and stopped. The other boy had a strange look on his face… hungry almost… and yet… it was if the other boy wasn't even mentally there.

Suddenly the blackness was surrounding him…

Covering him…

The evil was everywhere…

And then there was pain, darkness, and his own screaming filling his ears.

Heero pushed hard into the other as he climaxed and was unaware of the terrified scream coming from Duo for several moments. As the dawning realization of what had just happened seeped in to the rational part of Heero's mind, Heero's own horrified scream joined Duo's.

* * *

Quatre looked down at Trowa with large, alarmed eyes as the muffled screams seeped through to Quatre's room.

"Duo's gone…"

Trowa's eyes widened in shock.

Again Quatre spoke… and this time his voice was almost dead in its finality.

"It's here."


	16. Dybbuk

**Dead Ground**

**16**

**Dybbuk**

She materialized in the blackness; a phantom memory that had only existed in his dreams now was becoming reality in the gruesome, nightmarish cabin. His breath caught in his throat. She looked the same as before. Her porcelain skin, her raven hair, her eyes…

Her eyes…

Her eyes were the same obsidian orbs that he remembered, but the look in them was…

Different.

"Wufei..." He saw her lips move and felt a sharp pang in his heart as his name was spoken.

No! he thought. No! It isn't her! It CAN'T be her!

She was coming closer and he could see her features more clearly. Slowly she raised a hand toward him and again spoke his name. "Wufei..."

Hot tears slid unnoticed down his cheeks. His mind was screaming incessantly that there was no way it could be her, but his heart wanted—needed—it to be her. The sickening sound of his knees hitting one of the rotting corpses seemed far away to his ears as he sunk to the floor. Eyes still on the advancing girl, Wufei felt his body begin to go numb.

"Wufei… I've missed you so much…"

The words sounded odd in his ears, like an instrument out of tune. Wrong! This is all wrong! his mind screamed. Get up! Get out! Wufei tried to stand, but for some reason his body felt so heavy. His eyes were fixed forward, watching as his deceased wife came to a stop in front of his kneeling body.

She looked down at him and slid her outstretched hand on his head. "It's been so long, hasn't it… Wufei…?" She whispered and began to stroke his loose hair. Wufei tried to answer her, but all that came out was a strangled sob. His arms ached to hold her, his heart yearned to tell her all that he had done in the name of justice… all for her…

It isn't her! Watch her other hand! Her other hand! his mind screamed.

No! No, she wouldn't ever hurt me. Not her… His heart begged his mind to understand.

Slowly, with all the effort he could muster, Wufei began to bring his arms up. He intended to wrap them around her when suddenly from above he heard a terrified scream from somewhere above him. The scream was soon joined by another. For a moment, he froze, then it seemed as if whatever had held him captive had lost its grip. Wufei looked up quickly, in time to see the girl's other hand raise up and something flash. With speed born of training and practice, Wufei rolled out of the way as she brought a knife viciously down where he had been only seconds before.

* * *

Heero slammed his head down on Duo's shoulder. He didn't want to see Duo's face anymore. He didn't want to hear Duo's screams… Part of him couldn't believe what he had just done, another part of him coldly pointed out that he had accomplished the mission he had set out to do. Part of Heero hated that man… that thing… for what he had gotten him to do. Another part hated Duo for not listening to him, for being so gullible, for caring for him…

And then there was a part of him that didn't understand any of this. This part of him was his weak link; the childish, lonely part of him that never wanted to be alone. All this part cared about was that the man kept his promise about him never being alone again.

Heero's scream of horror changed to a yell of surprise as he was savagely pushed off of Duo and ultimately off the bed. He fell on his wounded side and cried out in pain and curled into the fetal position.

Heero felt his hair being grabbed and a brutal yank brought him face to face with a kneeling Duo.

Only…

Heero knew…

Heero knew that it was only Duo's body in front of him.

Duo's eyes looked at him, but as Heero stared into the large orbs before him, he knew that Duo was not behind them.

* * *

Trowa reached out and touched Quatre's arm. The screaming had stopped and the silence around the two boys was deafening in its stillness. Quatre turned his gaze from the ceiling to the hand touching his arm, then to Trowa. He could see caring and affection in Quatre's eyes…

But he also saw fear.

It wasn't fear of what was happening above them that caused the look, but something connected to him. Quatre leaned over him and Trowa could see tears starting to blur the other boy's sight. Because of me, Trowa thought. He's afraid for me. Trowa's hand slipped up to touch Quatre's bruised cheek. It was painful and it caused him to moan involuntarily. Quatre… The other teen grabbed Trowa's hand and pressed it hard against his skin. Quatre… I'm alright. Don't worry. The pain isn't… that… bad… Trowa silently lied, hoping Quatre would believe what he hadn't spoken.

Quatre gently placed Trowa's hand to rest on the floor. Trowa opened his mouth to speak, but Quatre placed two fingers against Trowa's lips and made a small hushing sound.

"Don't speak Trowa," Quatre half whispered, half sobbed. "You need to save your strength. We need to get out of here. You need your strength for that."

Trowa again raised his hand, but this time he grabbed Quatre's hand and moved it away from his mouth.

"Quatre..."

Quatre's lips pressed together and he squeezed his eyes shut, causing the previously unshed tears to race down his face. He grabbed Trowa's hand with both of his and held it to his chest.

"Quatre… you… go…." His chest and head hurt, hell his whole body hurt, and the effort it took to speak was exhausting.

Quatre jerked his head back and forth. "I… I won't. I won't leave… you," he sobbed brokenly.

Trowa sighed and closed his eyes.

* * *

The corpses made a sickening crunching noise as Wufei rolled over them. He didn't have time to be disgusted at the noise or having rolled in blood and rotting flesh for as soon as the girl had realized her prey had escaped she made another swing at him with the knife.

He scrambled away from her and heard a thud behind him as the knife struck the wooden floor. The cuts on his hands reopened painfully and his blood mixed with the rotting corruption that covered the cabin.

Wufei grabbed onto the couch in his hurry to get to his feet as he slipped once again in the decomposing ooze. He spun and grabbed the girl's wrist as she again thrust the knife at him. Though she was shorter and smaller, Wufei could swear her strength was as great as his. His eyes locked onto the knife. It was meant for culinary duties, not for a weapon, but the insidious kitchen knife now radiated a much more dangerous presence as it was pointed hazardously at his throat.

He looked at the girl and saw a hideous smile break out on her face. He felt his strength give for a moment as he remembered her smile…. it had never been hideous… never like that…. it had been beautiful, and strong… He looked away with an effort.

NO!

It isn't her!

Wufei pushed out and felt his grip slip from the wetness. He turned and let go as the knife stabbed at where he had just been. He turned backward as he whipped around the girl, then elbowed her hard in the back, using the momentum of his turn to knock her to the floor.

He spun back to face her as she snarled and quickly turned around on her back. Before Wufei could see what she had in mind, the girl threw the knife at him. He dodged, but not in time and yelled in pain as the knife pierced into his shoulder, missing his heart by a few inches.

As the girl got to her hands and feet, Wufei savagely kicked her in the face causing her to fall to the floor on her back. She growled and leapt to her feet, but Wufei was already crouched on the floor sweeping his leg beneath her, causing her to fall again.

He launched himself forward. Quickly turning the girl onto her stomach, Wufei grabbed a fistful of her dark hair, jerked her head back, yanked the knife from his shoulder, and roughly slashed the knife from one side of her throat to the other.

He could hear a sickening wheezing sound come from the girl beneath him, and yet she still struggled. Wufei angrily buried the knife into her back where it would pierce her heart then leaned forward and slammed her head against the floor again and again causing a loud banging sound each time.

"YOU!"

Bang!

"ARE!"

Bang!

"NOT!"

Bang!

"HER!"

The girl was dead. He knew she was dead, but he couldn't stop. He could hear a crunching sound and whether it was the wood breaking or the skull of her corpse, he didn't know. Nor was Wufei aware of how many times he had brutally slammed the dead girl's head into the wood, or that he was sobbing with each word. All he knew was that this… this… this thing had dared to look like her. He gradually stopped as his strength began to give out and got to his feet. He could see her shape in the darkness of the room. He slowly backed away from the mangled corpse.

It's not her… he tried to tell himself. It looked like her… that's all!

Raw pain tore at his chest as he tried to convince himself that he did not just brutally murder his wife. When his back hit against the wall by the stares, Wufei slowly slid into a sitting position, hung his head, and cried.

* * *

Heero felt the grip on his hair tighten as Duo… no… not Duo… the thing in Duo's body leaned in close.

"You fool." The words came out in a soft, dangerous voice. 'Duo' pulled Heero's head forward as he lowered his own so that foreheads touched. "You are much stronger than I gave you credit for…" 'Duo' said with a small mocking smile and a tone that almost would have made Heero think he was slightly amused. The next was said with a dead finality that chilled him to his bones. "But it ends here."

He felt a sharp pain in his head that started where their foreheads touched. The searing agony left a dull ache as it passed through his head, down his neck, touching every part of his body before it ended at his feet. Heero wanted to scream, to cry, to get away… but he couldn't. Whatever 'Duo' had done to him, it had immobilized him.

'Duo' searched Heero's eyes for a moment before he seemed satisfied. The thing let go of Heero's hair and stood up. 'Duo' cast his eyes around the room before bringing them back to settle on the crouching Heero.

"Stand," 'Duo' commanded in a flat voice.

Heero wanted to snarl and tell the thing to go to hell before attacking him, but he immediately rose to his feet, his face impassive. The thing seemed to know what was in Heero's mind, however, because it smiled and said, "You may have won out on the other, but you won't on this. You belong to me now, whether you desire it or not."

The smile disappeared and 'Duo' walked toward the bed. Heero watched as the thing picked up Duo's pants, revealing Duo's gun lying on the floor. After slipping into the pants, the thing picked up the gun and looked at Heero. Slowly, the thing stuffed the gun between the pants and the small of Duo's back, then reached between the mattresses and pulled out one of Heero's knives. 'Duo' looked at it for a moment, studying it. The knife was sharp with two inches of steel jutting from the hilt.

The thing looked up at Heero for a moment and he saw an evil smile play out across Duo's features. The thing reached back, grabbed Duo's long braid, and viciously sliced through the rope of hair at the base of Duo's neck. Heero's face stayed impassive, but inside he was screaming, and for some reason he felt as though he wasn't screaming alone.

* * *

He was going to die. He knew it. He could feel it. He couldn't make it to the truck… But Quatre could… Even in his battered state, he could make it… If Quatre would just leave him… Trowa knew he would only slow the other teen down, but Quatre would never make it there if he didn't even try…

He suddenly remembered what the other boy had been mumbling in his sleep and said, "Quatre. What… What is it that you must remember?"

Quatre opened his eyes and looked at Trowa in anguish. "Don't try to change the subject," he murmured.

* * *

More screams above him roused Wufei from the numbness. Something besides himself was alive in this hell and whatever it was, it was in pain. Standing up, Wufei became acutely aware of the filth that covered his body. He was wet, cold, and felt as though he would sick up again. He swayed slightly and steadied himself by putting a hand against the wall. Raising his head he looked up the stairs, though he couldn't see the top in the darkness.

Up.

He needed to go up.

* * *

"Get dressed," the thing commanded, tossing the knife at him. Heero didn't flinch as the knife whizzed past his head and stuck into the wall behind him. He kept his eyes fixed forward… waiting… "And take that with you."

* * *

Each step creaked and moaned as Wufei ascended the stairs. It was almost completely dark at the top of the staircase, but Wufei could make out the shapes of the two doors on the second floor.

A soft sniffle brought his attention to the far corner and he could see the outline of a small figure huddled in the corner. Wufei swallowed and stepped closer. As he did so, he could see the shape try to press itself more closely into the corner.

"Don't be afraid," Wufei whispered gently.

Whatever was in the corner stopped moving and Wufei knelt down next to the shape. His heart beat rapidly and his body was tense, ready to spring into action if necessary. Reaching out his hand, Wufei's fingers connected with cool, damp skin. The figure flinched and moaned.

He stared hard into the darkness and firmly moved his hand to hold onto the figure... onto an arm perhaps? The figure was a child. He could tell by the size of the dark shape and by the thinness of the arm. It seemed as though the child was protecting its head with its hands. "Don't worry," Wufei quietly tried to reassure the other. "Everything will be fine."

The child stirred and Wufei felt the arm drop and saw a head come up. Hair seemed to stick out messily from the child's head and Wufei had a sudden revelation as the face of the Japanese boy from earlier came to his mind. The boy turned his head and though Wufei couldn't see the boy's features, he was sure the child was staring at him. Wufei felt the boy's arm move out of his grasp and moments later he felt a small, cold hand touching his face.

"You…" the boy whispered. "It's you… I told you... I… You…" The boy broke down into sobs and wrapped his arms around Wufei's neck, and he held the crying child, whispering soft reassurances.

After a few moments the boy seemed to calm down and Wufei said, "Let's get out of here."

The boy jerked back and said with agony, "I can't. I can't leave him. I need to get to him. I want to save him."

Wufei looked around. Was there someone else in the cabin? Gently, but firmly, Wufei took the boy by the shoulders and asked, "Where is he?" For some reason Wufei didn't need to ask who the boy spoke of.

He already knew.

How he knew... he didn't know, and he couldn't quite put a finger on who it actually was. But he knew that he knew.

In response to Wufei's question, the boy said nothing but moved his arm away and in the dimness, he could see that the boy was pointing up.

The attic.

Wufei felt his heart drop. It would be very difficult to get up there. The boy interrupted his thoughts. "It is not there, but beyond." He turned his eyes back to the boy with a touch of irritation. He didn't want the boy to start speaking in riddles again. Wufei opened his mouth to tell the boy so when the child spoke again.

"That is not the entrance."

Wufei stared at him for a moment, understanding slowly coming to him. When the boy spoke again it was in a low whisper. "Will you help me get beyond the door?"

Tears came to Wufei's eyes as he understood what needed to be done, and he wrapped his arms around the boy. "I will," he whispered. Slowly he closed his eyes and then said again, this time in his mind, "I will."

* * *

"I'm not… trying… to change… the… subject," Trowa replied brokenly. It was getting more difficult to talk; more difficult to stay awake. He didn't want Quatre to stay here mourning for him. He wanted Quatre to live.

"I'm not going to leave you," Quatre said again, this time with more strength.

Trowa opened his eyes. "You will! You must!" he forced out. Breathing hard, Trowa winced in pain from the strain. His eyes wanted to close again, but he forced them to stay open. He focused on Quatre's face.

So beautiful…

Quatre's blond hair was matted with blood, his neck was swollen and dark… there were various cuts and bruises and a couple faint hand prints marring the usually milky cheeks… Yet, even with his injuries he was still beautiful...

* * *

Quatre leaned over Trowa who was staring hard at him. He felt death around Trowa, and he knew that there was no way the other boy could last.

But he hoped.

He wanted…

He…

His eyes filled with fresh tears and he squeezed his eyes shut for a moment, forcing the liquid to stream down his cheeks. When he opened his eyes, Trowa was still looking at him and through the pain and the darkness, Quatre felt something else.

Love.

Trowa's lips moved and the words that escaped his mouth were soft and breathy. "You… have… always… been…."

Quatre tried to hold back a sob but it came anyway. With his last breath, Trowa finished his sentence.

"Beautiful."

* * *

It was dark.

He couldn't breath.

He couldn't….

Suddenly, Wufei's eyes snapped open. His vision was blurry.

He had been asleep…

How long…?

Wufei's mind forced him away from thoughts of sleep as his sight cleared and saw Heero's face looking down at him with cold eyes. He tried to say something, but found that he couldn't speak—couldn't breathe. He raised a hand to his neck and felt a thick rope around his neck, strangling him. His vision was starting to cloud and Wufei's body reacted without thought. Swiping his hand to the side from his neck, Wufei hit Heero's wrist hard and turned his body at the same time. The two boys rolled off the bed and onto the floor, Wufei on top of Heero. Wasting no time, Wufei pushed himself off the other boy and staggered backward. His hands quickly fished the rope from around his neck and when he saw what it was, he gasped.

Duo's…

Wufei's shock only lasted a moment, but that was all the time a skilled fighter like Heero needed, and Wufei's attention was brought back to the fight when a hard kick was delivered to his wounded shoulder. Somewhere in the back of his mind, Wufei wondered how his shoulder had been hurt, but had no time to dwell on it.

His movements were slow and stiff, and he barely dodged a stab. His body ached and his mind still felt fuzzy. As the two pilots continued their fight, it became apparent to Wufei that Heero was holding back for some reason he couldn't understand. The other boy was one of the best fighters he'd ever known and with Wufei as sluggish as he was, Heero should have already finished him off.

Wufei wheezed with the exertion. He could feel his life draining away with each slice in his skin. When he fell next to his travel bag, he desperately reached in and pulled out something laying at the top…

Something the other pilots had never seen him use…(1)

Something he abhorred using…

Heero stopped his pursuit suddenly as a bullet from Wufei's handgun ripped though his chest. He staggered back and jerked when a second, then a third, bullet hit him. Three more bullets tore through him as Wufei mindlessly emptied the gun.

Wufei pulled the trigger four more times before he realized the chamber was empty, then, breathing hard, he dropped the gun and quickly grabbed the knife when it slipped from Heero's grasp. The Japanese teen fell heavily onto his knees and lifted a hand to touch his chest. Kneeling only inches from one another, the two boys stared at each other. Wufei felt shock and a touch of horror at seeing his comrade in such a state, knowing that he was the one who had brought him to it.

Another part of him felt… accomplished… as if he had just done something that he had said he would do. And for some reason, Wufei thought that Heero had a grateful look in his eyes.

Swallowing hard, Wufei crawled to Heero and laid him down on the floor. When Heero cast his eyes toward the bed where the cast off braid lay, Wufei followed the gaze and crawled over to retrieve the rope of hair. Gently, he laid Duo's hair in Heero's palm, and wordlessly watched as tears escaped Heero's eyes.

Heero's gaze met Wufei's and he opened his mouth to say something, but no words came out, only a small trickle of blood.

The light from the other boy's eyes faded and only a glassy emptiness stared back at him. Slowly, Wufei closed Heero's eyes. With the fight over and the blood no longer rushing in his veins, Wufei could hear sobbing from the other room. Someone from that room was the one whose scream had woken him.

With an effort, Wufei stood. He looked down at his fallen comrade one more time. Without knowing why he said it, Wufei whispered, "I always do what I say I will"(2) then left the room, closing the door softly behind him.

* * *

Quatre held tightly to Trowa's body, sobbing hard. He didn't want Trowa to be dead! He couldn't be! He… When he felt a hand on his shoulder he jerked it off. He wanted to be alone! Alone with Trowa! Again he felt the hand on his shoulder and once more he shrugged it off.

The third time he felt two hands, one on each side of his shoulders, pull him forcefully away from Trowa.

"NOOOO!!" Quatre shrieked and started flailing around, trying to free himself from whoever had pulled him back.

Suddenly, Quatre felt a hard smack across his face and he gasped at the sharp stinging in his cheek. Looking up, he saw a very abused looking Wufei staring at him. Shakily, Quatre put a hand to his cheek. "Ww..w..wu..f..f.f..ei?" he stammered.

Sadness was painted on Wufei's face as he looked from Quatre to Trowa then back to Quatre again. "I'm sorry Quatre," he whispered softly. "But… We must go."

"But Trowa…" Quatre began

"Is dead," Wufei said, and Quatre saw him swallow hard. Even now the other pilot worked to keep his emotions from Quatre, but he could sense pain and anguish mixed in with urgency. "It's just us now, Quatre. We have to leave. You must be strong."

Quatre began to move his head back to where he could see Trowa, the other pilot stopped him by gently grabbing his head with his hands. "You mustn't. Don't look back, only forward. Do you understand?" Wufei searched Quatre's eyes with his own. "We are Gundam pilots. We must remember who we are and be strong."

Quatre's eyes widened slightly. "We must remember…" he whispered.

Remember…

There's something I must remember… Quatre thought.

"I'll go first," Wufei said, interrupting Quatre's thoughts. Quatre suddenly realized that the other boy had dragged him to the door.

Quatre nodded hesitantly.

Wufei dropped his hand and opened the door, then looked around before motioning for Quatre to follow him and left the room.

He hesitated.

He wanted so much to look back; just one more time. But Wufei was right… If he looked back now, he knew he wouldn't be able to leave.

With a deep breath Quatre walked out the bedroom door in time to hear a loud gunshot and to see Wufei stagger before dropping to the floor. Blood gushed from a hole in the Chinese pilot's forehead. The thick red liquid oozed down the sides of Wufei's face. Quatre felt cold shock wash over him.

The dark, black eyes were already lifeless and glossy.

Wufei was dead.

He wanted to scream…

He wanted to run… but he couldn't seem to move… A sound… laughter… sounded in front of him and slowly, Quatre raised his head. He started when he saw a shirtless Duo standing before him with a gun. A shirtless, braid-less, Duo…

It was Duo… but, it wasn't Duo.

It was the presence Quatre had been feeling.

The thing…

The dybbuk(3) …

His mind stopped looking for names for the thing as it spoke. "This is a good body, I think." Leering at Quatre, the thing continued, "We could have some fun together, but I know not to make the same mistake twice. I remember the last boy like you…" The thing's voice faded away and the leer was replaced by a flat dead look. Slowly 'Duo' raised the gun and pointed it at Quatre.

Quatre's mind seemed to float.

'I remember the last boy like you…'

'I remember...'

To remember… There was something Quatre needed to remember…

'We must remember who we are…'

Wufei…

Remember…

'What is it that you must remember?'

Trowa…

If nothing else remember this...

And then it came to him. Exhaling the breath he didn't know he was holding, Quatre closed his eyes as the gunshot rang through his ears…

And remembered.(4)

* * *

**1 - **Truthfully, I can't ever remember Wufei using a gun in the series, but I haven't seen it in quite a while so I could be wrong.  
**2 -** This refers to when Wufei said that he would get the boy (aka Heero) to the other side of the door. To Duo  
**3 - **dybbuk \dyb"buk\ (dib"buk; Hebrew d=eb=ook"), n.; pl. dybbuks; Hebr. dybbukim (d=eb=ook=em"). (Jewish folklore) the wandering soul of a dead person, or a demon, that enters the body of a living person and controls that body's behavior. It may be exorcised by religious rites. Although Quatre is Arabian, I am going to assume he knows something of Jewish folklore for the sake of the story.  
**4 - **For those who may have forgotten, refer to chapter 14.


	17. Epilogue: What Dreams May Come

**Dead Ground**

**Epilogue**

**What Dreams May Come**

Quatre heard a gunshot and a shout.

"Woooohooo! We got dinner!"

"Maxwell, you moron, we're supposed to be lying low. Stop firing off your gun. We already had dinner."

"That's not food that…"

"Has enough nutrients to keep us alive. Since you've already killed the bird, however, we should eat it."

Duo?

Wufei?

Heero?

Quatre struggled to open his eyes and had to close them again because of the light. He tried again and could make out the shadowy outlines of trees that marked the approach of dusk. Quatre's first attempt to sit up failed. His body felt heavy and it ached. He heard footsteps approach and he forced his eyes open again to see Trowa's face filling his vision.

"Hey," Trowa said softly. "How are you feeling?"

Quatre made a small questioning noise and Trowa smiled a small smile. "You've been very ill these past few days." The smile disappeared. "I… We've… been worried…"

"Heeeeey!!" came a shout behind Trowa, and suddenly Duo's face came into view beside Trowa's. "Q! Dude, you've been one sick puppy! How ya feelin buddy?"

Quatre thought he saw, out of the corner of his eye, Trowa glaring at Duo, but when Quatre turned his head to see better, Trowa's face was as it always was.

The sound of a throat clearing sounded behind the two and they turned around, making a gap between them so that Quatre could see Wufei holding a cup in his hand with a stern look on his face.

Duo made a gagging sound and said, "You're not seriously going to try to get him to drink that are you?" When Wufei glared at him, Duo shrugged and muttered, "We want to cure him not kill him…" but wisely moved out of the way so that Wufei could give him the cup.

"This will help you recover. You have been seriously ill."

Quatre took the cup, then looked back at Trowa and Wufei. "I don't…" he began, but his voice sounded rough and scratchy and his throat felt the same way. He took a sip of the tea and grimaced. He tried again, "Where… are we?"

Trowa gave him the location and reminded him of the situation they were facing with OZ. Quatre felt weary and Wufei told him, practically commanded him, to sleep more before he moved off to demand Duo be quiet. Trowa was about to get up as well, but Quatre stopped him.

"Don't go…" He whispered. Quatre felt shaken and disturbed. Was it all a dream then? A horrific nightmare? Quatre didn't know, but he knew that he wanted Trowa to stay near him, at least for now.

Trowa agreed immediately to stay with Quatre and settled himself down next to Quatre's bedroll. "I'm sorry there won't be any fire tonight…" Trowa begin, but a sound to their right silenced him and Quatre saw him tense for a moment before Heero emerged from the brush.

Heero glanced down at Quatre and nodded before waving for the others to come. As soon as the other two had joined them, Heero began. "I've found a place where we can stay for the time being. There's a cabin about a mile away, beyond that ridge we saw earlier…"

**-the end-**

**A/N (10-26-07):**

I started writing this story either the end of November or the beginning of December of 2004. To say I was new to fanfiction would be an understatement as I'd only discovered fanfiction a couple weeks before I began this story.

I finally posted the first chapter on 01-04-05 on ff.n and posted the last chapter 03-19-06. I've spent the last month (it is now October of 2007) re-editing this story given that I've progressed quite a bit in my writing skills from then. Though I really couldn't do much about the POV shifting, I did fix up the grammar, punctuation, and spelling. I also fixed a few other annoying things and made some of the sentences flow better.

I'd like to thank my beta, Masamune Reforged, who was kind enough to offer a new author his betaing services. And thank you to all of you for reading. I hope you enjoyed the story.

- ZaKai Stonewall


End file.
